Unreal
by Wafflegirl0304
Summary: They always thought he couldn't, wouldn't change. Until that day. He didn't have a choice. He had to let him out. Then everyone could see that he could be a different person. But has he changed for the better or worse?
1. Let Me Out

"Kai. You need to stop it. Stop being such an over-reactive jerk."

"It is vital that you stay with the group, Kai."

"Next time, don't veer from the plan, dude!"

I thrust my fist forward in anger. There was a crash as it collided with the wooden-panelled wall. Pain shot through my arm, but my expression remained constant.

A gasp sounded from Cole. "Kai, what are you—"

"I'm can't help it, okay?" I interrupt, glaring at him. "I'm not perfect, I'm not the ninja you want me to be, and I know I need to control myself. I'm doing my best!"

A dense silence followed, the transition from yelling to dead, dead quiet. I could hear my heart thump in my chest as my gaze flickered from each of my friends. Cole's bushy eyebrows were furrowed in infuriation. Jay and Lloyd looked shocked, their jaws slack. Zane was frowning, but a certain empathy veiled his pale blue orbs. Naoko's hands had been raised to her mouth, but she didn't utter a word. And Nya's expression mirrored hers.

"Kai," a stern, wise voice said from beside me. I turned to see Sensei Wu, his eyes narrowed.

My heart sank. What was I doing? I pressed a hand to my forehead. "I'm sorry, Sensei. I messed up again." His gaze met mine, and now did I realise that they were filled with concern rather than disappointment. He said nothing, but lightly hit me on the head with his staff.

I looked down at my gloved hand. The midnight black cloth had been stained a deep maroon colour from my blood.

I groaned and stormed out of the dining room, away to the bedroom. Those jerks...they didn't understand at all, did they? They didn't understand my anger, my uncontrollable emotions...

"Kai," a small voice came from behind me. Naoko ran up to me. "A-Are you okay?"

"Who knows," I mumbled. "Sorry Naoko, but I feel like the world's biggest idiot right now."

She threw her arms around me and buried her face in my warm chest and neck. "Kai, I don't know how you feel, but I want you to know that you shouldn't change who you are. It's your personality that makes you special."

"Maybe I don't want to be special."

I ruffled Naoko's light brown hair with my non-bloody hand and hugged her back. "Change for the better, not for the worse," she whispered.

"I'll try," I shrugged.

Naoko pulled away and gave me a small smile. "You should probably wash the blood off." I sighed and pushed the door open to our bedroom, with Naoko following. I went to the bathroom inside, pulled off my gloves and washed the blood off my hands.

Change for the better? That sounds nearly impossible. I've been this way for so long that it's become my way of life. My personality...

Well, if everyone thinks so...

I examined my fist. The flesh around my knuckles was now a painful bluish black shade and the joints of my fingers ached with each movement. I scowled.

Naoko carefully wrapped my hand in bandages, humming a song as she did so. Her quiet voice echoed in the room, bouncing off the creamy tiles of the bathroom walls.

"Thanks," I told her.

"No problem," she smiled again, but this time I couldn't smile back.

Naoko returned to the dining room, but I retreated to the bedroom. I climbed up to my bunk (ouch) and stared at the ceiling, the spaces between the wooden boards shadowed in darkness.

"See, even your girlfriend thinks you should change," a voice inside my head smirked. I blinked before shaking my head.

"Yeah, whatever. I'm not going to listen to those voices in my mind like in those shows," I grumbled.

"Oh really? Maybe you should think twice." the voice said.

I shifted uneasily. This was so creepy. I turned onto my side, feeling my eyelids get heavy. Maybe I'd feel better when I woke up.

"Heh. Sleep tight, bro. Heheheheh,"

My heart jumped and I shot up, my eyes springing open. That laugh was too creepy. I wasn't going to fall asleep.

"Not sleepy anymore, eh? I'll help you sleep, I can wait. Something you can't do."

"Who are you?" I asked. Now that this guy had spoken a tad more, his voice seemed to ring a bell. I just couldn't put my finger on it. Did I actually recognise this unknown voice in my mind?

"I'm the guy others want you to be. I've got patience, strength, stealth, and I'm not hot-tempered like Mr. Stubborn here."

My heartbeat accelerated and I climbed out of bed. "Don't you want to alter yourself? Maybe...become the same as everyone else. Not special. Heheheh."

I drew my knees to my chin. I didn't know...I mean, I kind of wanted to change. I wanted to please everybody, right? So why was I doubting myself?

"Yes...you need me, Kai. Without me, you will hurt many people through your rashness and your stubbornness..." the voice said.

"I'll...hurt them?" I asked.

"Yup. That's why you should let me out. I'll help you."

Before I could answer, a blinding pain stabbed my gut and a mix of white and black flashed before me. My mouth parted as I clutched my stomach, body falling into a hunched position. The world spun around me in a mix of colours. So this was how it felt to faint.

I think I fell, because I felt my body get thrown down and my head hit the floor. Ouch.

"Let me out...Kai."


	2. You Feel An Odd Sensation?

~Zane~

I watched Kai flee from the room, with Naoko speeding after him desperately. Cole sighed and reached up, pinching his nose bridge with his fingers. I laced my fingers together quietly, averting my gaze to the floor.

Not again.

A wave of sudden nausea washed over me. I froze and gulped. Something was near. But it felt...different somehow. It was not like Garmadon's sinister presence, or the serpentine's evil heat signatures. It was odd...I had never experienced something like this before in my entire nindroid existence.

Naoko entered the dining room again and reported, "He said that he would try to change for the better."

Cole nodded curtly. "Okay,"

The tawny-haired girl fidgeted with the ends of her uwagi sleeves. "I don't think you guys should have been so hard on him," she reasoned. "Kai's just the way he is. I mean, it's not like he killed us."

"But he could have, and that's what needs to go," our leader said, banging a fist on the table. "Kai is too stubborn for his own good. He'll lead us into danger. Remember that time in the volcano? He could have died!"

"He only did it because he wanted to help," Lloyd retorted quietly. "He was trying so hard to get the Fangblade. But in the end he did make a right decision to save me."

Cole frowned and ran a hand through his shaggy black hair. "I...I just want the best for the team. I'm not going to let you all get put in danger just because that spiky-haired hothead won't listen to reason," he said firmly.

My head hurt from all the arguing, so I left the dining room. I decided to go to our bedroom to meditate. As I pushed the door open, I saw Kai sitting cross-legged on the floor. Another dizzy spell hit me and I winced, stumbling into the room.

"You okay?" Kai asked, getting up and helping me.

"Fine," I mumbled. "Thank you."

I noticed the bloody bandages on his hand. My fiery brother wouldn't look me in the eyes. He simply nodded and left the room without another word. Was he just shaken from earlier?

The dizziness went away, so I shook the thought out of my mind and got into my meditating position. My mind soon felt at peace.

But not completely.

"Zane?" a voice asked from the door. My train of thought broke as I opened my eyes and looked up to see Jay standing in the doorway. His auburn bangs fell slightly over his eyes, knitted together with sweat. That was quick. It hadn't felt like much.

"Dinner's ready," he said. "I made ramen,"

I smiled and got up. "Thank you Jay,"

He chuckled. "For what?"

"Making dinner," I said. "I hadn't been feeling too good just now."

"Why is that?" Jay asked curiously.

"I sensed an odd presence," I replied. "But it was different from Garmadon or the snakes,"

"Should we be concerned?" he asked as we got to the dining room. I shrugged and nodded.

"Maybe,"

I took my place at the table beside Cole, who had barely touched his ramen. He was looking at Kai.

"Hey, uh, Kai?" he asked.

"Yeah?" Kai replied.

"Sorry for being so hard on you just now. I wasn't considering your feelings. I know you're trying to be less impulsive and all that." Cole said apologetically.

"It's okay," Kai shrugged, looking up to meet Cole's gaze. Our leader frowned.

"We would all appreciate it if you were. Not like I expect you to change overnight, but I...well, I just don't want what happened today to happen again." Cole sighed. I could hear the hesitation in his voice as he seemed to force the words out.

Kai averted his gaze. "I know...I'm sorry,"

The strange feeling passed me again. It was getting annoying. I hurriedly ate my ramen and left the table, puzzled. What could this mean?

~Kai~

"See, you should change. Just let me take over." the voice, which I labelled EK, snickered.

You can't tell me what to do. This is my body, my life, my problem.

"But I'm a part of you, Kai. That would make all of those things mine, too."

I gritted my teeth as I finished the last of my food and dumped my bowl into the sink.

"You're stubborn and impatient and hot-tempered; I'm agreeable, patient and calm. Isn't that what Cole wants? What everybody wants? A different Kai?" EK asked.

A different Kai...

I found myself at the bathroom door. I stepped in and looked at myself in the mirror. What I saw scared me.

It was EK. He was smiling, his crimson red eyes twinkling with joy. He wore a darker version of my ninja suit, and his spiked hair had faint redness at the ends.

"Come on, you know you want to," EK whispered from the mirror.

"I don't want to, okay?" I muttered. "If you don't shut up right now..."

"You'll what? Kill me?" he sneered.

I clenched my fists in annoyance. Dang it. "Just stop bothering me. I don't need you."

"Fine then, I've already asked nicely. I guess next time I'll have to force my hand," EK said. "Sayonara, tankina hito,"

His figure faded and my reflection appeared in the mirror. I was wide-eyed and frowning. That guy was ruining my life. I didn't need him, right? Yeah...I didn't need that annoying jerk.

I could change on my own.


	3. Not Sticking to the Plan

_~Naoko~_

"Stick to the plan this time, Kai," Cole reminded for the ten millionth time. The wind carried his words past us as we ran forward in a group, boots quiet and muffled on the pavement.

Kai rolled his eyes. "You don't have to keep telling me."

We arrived at the heart of Ninjago City. Nya had told us that the serpentine were up to no good. They were stealing and messing up the town. Citizens were screaming and running around with snakes chasing them. Others were being threatened. The whole town was in chaos.

"I can't wait to kick their butts," Jay smirked as he unsheathed his nunchucks.

"Alright, so we'll split up to cover more ground. Jay and Naoko will do centre, Kai and Zane will go the left side, and I'll go to the right. Got it?" Cole instructed.

"Yes, sir!" I smiled, unsheathing my daggers.

He nodded and we scattered. Jay ran towards a snake who was mugging a woman. I glanced around and gasped. A man with light brown hair was holding a young toddler in his arms, leaning against a wall. Recognition dawned on me in the few seconds I took to scan their faces. Two Hypnobrai were advancing on them.

"Hey! Leave my family alone!" I shouted, flinging my daggers forward. They sunk straight into both of their backs and they fell over, blood leaking out of their scaly bodies. Dad looked up at me and smiled in relief, his dark eyes shining with unsaid admiration.

"Naoko," he said, "thank you,"

"No problem, Dad," I replied, yanking out my daggers. I shuddered slightly at the blood, but all the training and fighting had kinda steeled my thinking. It didn't affect me too much. "Is Nagato okay?"

"Fine as he'll ever be, thanks to you," Dad grinned. My gaze drifted towards his hand on the small toddler facing away from me, secure in my father's embrace.

"Please go home," I told him. "It's not safe here,"

He nodded and fled, my baby brother safe in his arms. I smiled and turned back to the scene.

"Uh Naoko? A little help here?" Jay's voice called from not far. I looked over to see the snakes surrounding him. I narrowed my ashen eyes and sprang forward.

"NinjaGO!" I yelled, spinning into a silver tornado and barrelling over most of the snakes. I stopped right beside Jay.

"Sorry, I was defending my dad and brother," I said as I dealt a low kick to a Constrictai.

"It's fine," Jay panted. He electrocuted a few serpentine with his nunchucks. "I understand."

_~Kai~_

The serpentine had us surrounded. I felt Zane's back press against mine and exchanged a glance with him.

I grabbed his arms and spun him around, knocking out the first layer of snakes and giving us more room to fight.

Zane froze a few of the serpentine with his shurikens while I burned them. It felt good to fight. Best of all, EK wasn't around to bug me. The terrified screams of the serpentine somehow threw me into adrenaline mode, Suddenly a Fangpyre slapped my sword out of my hand and took off down an alley, the darkness closing around his disappearing figure.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Come back!" I punched my way through the crowd of snakes and sped after him.

"Kai, wait!" Zane yelled frantically, but I was already too far to hear him.

_~Zane~_

This...complicates things...

I looked around at the serpentine hissing and snarling around me. I frowned and yelled, "NinjaGO!"

I spun around, kicking hard and punching, and soon I had the remainder of the snakes down. I ceased my spinning and glanced around wildly, trying to locate Kai. _The alley_, I muttered silently and began my pursuit of my fiery brother. I didn't wish to admit it-but Cole was right. Kai was extremely impulsive, and though it was part of his personality, it was going to hinder us in one way or another, like right now.

Before I could enter the dim alleyway, somebody pushed me to the ground and pinned me down. I could not tell who it was, but I had a bad feeling about it. Why had I been so ignorant? I should have sensed it. It was too late for regrets at the current time.

"Look into my eyes, nindroid," the voice I identified as Skales, barked. I took advantage of my position and focused on the road under my body, grabbing my head and resisting against the mutant snake as his hands clasped around my head and tried to turn it towards him.

Kai, where are you?!

_~Cole~_

I had cleared the serpentine on my side and ran back to the centre of town. I found Kai, Naoko and Jay standing. No Zane.

"Guys, where's Zane?" I asked, fearing that I already knew the answer.

Jay and Naoko looked up at me. Fear was reflected in Naoko's eyes, and Jay's was full of worry. Kai wouldn't even look at me.

"Kai, what did you do?" I inquired harshly, grabbing his collar. "Where is Zane?"

I could feel his heart thumping rapidly. "I...I really don't know. A snake took my sword and I ran to retrieve it. When I came back he was gone,"

"I can't believe you just left him there!" I barked. "Do you have any idea how bad this is!?"

Kai growled. "I know, and I'm sorry!" He pushed me off him and glared at me, the anger and frustration flaming in his hazel irises.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it!" I retorted. "I'm done putting up with your impulsiveness!"

"Please don't fight!" Naoko cried, desperation rising in her words.

My heart hurt from saying those words. I hated having to be the leader around here! Especially to Kai! It was mean of me, but he just got on my nerves so often, and so greatly. Zane could be anywhere and it was going to be MY fault.

Before Kai could retaliate, a familiar voice from behind us got our attention.

"Looking for somebody?"

_~Jay~_

I spun around and gasped. There stood Skales, his arms folded and smirking. And beside him was Zane, his pupils cherry red.

"Zane!" we all voiced in unison.

"Indeed, your friend is safe," Skales chuckled, but the bane in his tone told me Zane wasn't. From the looks of it, this battle wasn't gonna turn out well. "Zane, attack them!"

"I will obey," Zane said dryly. He got his shurikens out and lunged at me. I dodged and pushed him to the ground, feeling a sense of guilt as I held his body down.

"Make him play the recording!" Cole called. He ran forward with his scythe and hit Skales, who deflected the attack with his staff.

"Okay!" I yelled back. Zane growled angrily and shot ice at me. I gasped and kind of stumbled backwards as the cold hit me, his figure slipping out from under mine. Naoko sped over and had him down again. Fighting to keep ice off her face, she opened his arm panel and asked, "Which button is it?"

"S-Second one," I stammered, rubbing my arms. Naoko's fingers jabbed at his arm, but Zane kept moving. For a split second, I wondered what would happen did she press his funny switch. That dance of his played in my mind but I quickly pushed it off. I really didn't need that mental image now. Zane forcefully threw the girl off him. Naoko tumbled a few feet before she got up and dusted herself off.

I watched Kai come up behind him and tackle him back to the ground. He swiftly reopened the panel and jabbed the button. The smooth tune of the flute filled the air and the colour of Zane's eyes faded back to the cool, light blue they usually were.

"Zane?" Kai asked.

Zane shook his head and Kai got off him, pulling him up as he did so. "Kai, you're here," he stated, glancing around the area.

"I wish I wasn't," he sighed as Cole came back up to us. We all gave him questioning looks, but he didn't return any of them. I quickly scanned the area for Skales, but the blue serpentine leader had completely vanished from the scene.

"We're going home," he murmured.

Cole was definitely not happy.


	4. Can't

_~Kai~_

In the dining room

"What is wrong with you!?" Cole yelled.

"Cole, please. I was not—" Zane started, but Cole cut him off.

"You left Zane there, all by himself in the middle of a million snakes! You broke a rule, Kai! You broke it!"

Number one of Cole's rules: Never leave your team behind.

"Shut up!" I shouted, tears brimming in my eyes. "I'm tired of you always criticising me and breathing down my neck! I know I screw up everywhere I go but that doesn't mean you have to yell at me every time! I'm sorry, okay? I'm freakin' sorry for even existing!"

My chest heaved and the tears were flowing down so furiously I didn't even bother to wipe them away. "If you all really think I'm nothing but a stubborn jerk then maybe I will change! I'll show you all!"

I kicked a nearby chair and ran out of the Bounty, ignoring my friends' desperate calls. I ran and ran and ran, ignoring the weird looks I got from everybody. Blurs of colours whizzed past me and I felt something I had never felt before. I just wanted to get away from everybody.

_Everyone hates me. I'm nothing but a mess up. A blunder. A selfish, stubborn, hot-headed idiot._

"Now do you see that you need me, Kai?"

I stopped in my tracks and looked around, noting how out-of-breath I was. I was at the gates of Ninjago City. I fell to my knees and let the pain overwhelm me.

A blurry image of red sneakers appeared in front of me. I let out a breath and looked up, my eyes stinging with tears. EK stood there, the I-told-you-so gleam in his eyes obvious.

I sighed. "EK, I'm so tired. So tired of being...me." My voice was wavering bad, and I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. I didn't care anymore.

"Kai, I've told you before, you can end all this. I can help you," he said softly. "I can save you from yourself. You don't have to do this anymore. You don't have to be...you."

"But...I don't know..."

EK practically pushed me to the ground. It was like he really was there, his crimson eyes getting annoyed by the minute. I lay on the ground, supported by my elbows.

"Listen to me, Kai. Let me out, and I'll make things right. I'll help you change." EK growled. "Yes or no?"

I thought about it. Maybe it was for the better. I couldn't take being like this anymore. It was time to grant everybody's wish.

"Okay, EK. You can take me."

EK smiled. "Good choice,"

Dizziness struck me and I slid to the ground. I felt my willpower slipping away rapidly. Was this how it felt to be hypnotised?

EK knelt down, put his thumb on my forehead and pressed down gently. The dizziness slowly went away. A cold sensation swept through my body.

"Just go to sleep, _tankina hito_,"

Mmm...

_~Zane~_

"What the—how could you do that to him!?" Jay burst out in a fit of rage. "You made the guy cry! Kai never does that!"

"I'm afraid he's right," I said quietly. "Kai didn't mean to do that. It was an old habit of his."

"You were acting like him!" Naoko cried, her silvery eyes glistening with tears.

"Poor Kai..." Lloyd murmured.

I watched as Cole's expression turned from anger to hurt to uncertainty. I sensed the inner turmoil within him. I felt sorry for both Kai and Cole. But more for who?

Our leader looked down, his shoulders shaking. He was crying. Crying hard. Cole turned and ran into his room. I heard the door slam behind him.

Nya and Naoko were looking out the window in despair. Jay was leaning against the wall and covering his face with his hands. Lloyd was fidgeting uncomfortably where he sat. I sighed and sat down. My heart felt like it weighed a million pounds. Cole had tried so hard to help our team succeed. A little too hard. And now instead of us being a better team, we were falling apart like a house of cards.

I looked at the open door to the Bounty. _Should I look for him? Or does he need time alone?_

So many questions and not enough answers.

I decided to go look for him. Flipping on my hood, I exited the Bounty and silently shut the door behind me. Then I sprinted, scanning the town for Kai's presence. It wasn't until I got to the centre of Ninjago City that I knew where he was. I ceased my running and walked forward. As I walked, a sick feeling entered my stomach and got stronger and stronger. I felt like I could throw up, even though I'd barely eaten anything.

I was almost at the gates of the city. My ice blue eyes searched the area again, a bit more desperately. I wanted to go home.

That's when I spotted a figure dressed in red sprawled on the ground a few metres away. I gasped.

"Kai!" I hurried forward, but froze in my tracks. The feeling was at its highest intensity. I...ugh...

I fought it and approached my comatose brother weakly. I knelt down and examined him. He seemed normal, but his body...it was...cooler than usual...

Oh, please no.

Thankfully before I could confirm my worst fears, Kai opened his eyes drowsily.

"Zane?" he asked.

I nodded. "Are you alright?"

He rose to his feet, but I could not. Too weak.

"I guess the question should be raised: are you okay?" he asked, pulling me up.

"Y-Yes," I replied shakily. "I do feel a dark presence near us, but I still have not found out its source."

A smirk found its way onto Kai's face for a spilt second. "Oh..."

I raised my eyebrow sceptically, but said nothing else. I was just glad he was safe.

We walked back to the Bounty in absolute silence. I could not shake the feeling of dread I had.

_It feels odd somehow...has Kai really changed like he said he would? He seems different but...I can't tell..._

My hard drive was overheating again, I was going to have to ask Jay for help again.

"You okay?" Kai asked.

I nodded hesitantly. I looked up and saw the Bounty come into view. From the window, I saw Naoko's eyes widen. She ran outside, and I saw that anxiety had flooded her features. Naoko took Kai's hands and asked, "Are you okay, Kai?"

"Yeah."

I walked past them and Nya who was running up to Kai. Lloyd and Jay were talking.

"You found Kai?" Jay inquired.

"Yes," I answered.

_Well, I am not too sure actually...his presence reminds me of somebody else. Not the Kai we know._


	5. AWAC Day

**Short chapter, but ehh, what the horses. :P Thanks for the reviews guys. I love you. As friends. And I'm tired now so...good night! Or day! It depends! XD Review!**

_~Lloyd~_

"You found Kai?" Jay inquired.

"Yes," Zane answered.

I noticed that Zane's body was shaking slightly. "Uh...are you okay, Zane?" I asked.

He sighed and sat down. "Not exactly. I have been sensing an odd and dark presence, and today it has been the worst."

A look of concern masked Jay's face. "So how do you feel now?"

"Sick," Zane muttered. "Oh, could you help me fix my hard drive? It has been overheating,"

"Sure," my lightning brother said. He went over and opened Zane's chest panel. Getting out a dark blue screwdriver, he took the cover off a small grey box in the corner.

"Do you carry that everywhere you go?" I asked curiously. Jay shrugged, not turning to look at me.

"My father gave it to me when I was twelve. I used it a lot."

"Oh,"

While Jay fiddled around with Zane's hard drive, I heard Kai come into the room. I looked over and tried a smile. He saluted back and glanced around.

"Where's Cole?" he asked.

"In our room. He feels really bad that he treated you the way he did." I said. Kai brushed past me and headed to the bedroom.

_~Cole~_

_What have I done? I'm a terrible leader! Instead of helping Kai, I hurt him! I didn't help him improve, I just told him how bad he was... As if that would help! Ugh..._

I stared at the brown wooden bed frame as I lay on my side. Crying was not manly. So I had stopped and started thinking instead. Which led to more crying, and more thinking, and...yeah.

I rolled over onto my back and sighed. I felt so guilty. I definitely had to apologise to Sparkplug later. And then I could probably help him with his anger issues a little...

A knock at the door startled me. I glanced up curiously before getting up and opening the door. Kai stood there, his dark eyes meeting mine.

"Hey..." I said awkwardly.

"Hey. I'm sorry for yelling and deserting Zane and everything." he said apologetically.

I blinked and rubbed my eyes. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have yelled at you either. I've decided to help you become a better ninja, Kai."

I swear, I saw Kai narrow his eyes.

"That won't be necessary, Cole. I'm my own person. And I've changed. Those few minutes I was away made me realise I had to change. I'm a better guy now. Patient, agreeable..." Kai trailed off, his gaze locked on mine.

I felt a deep discomfort stir in my body. Kai was certainly different. Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to try, right?

"If you say so," I said.

Kai looked away, but the smile on his face was obvious. "Thanks for giving me a chance."

I chuckled lightly. "And thanks for giving me a chance."

We stood in silence for a bit. I couldn't help but notice that my fiery brother kept rubbing the back of his hand as if it itched or something. I didn't bother to ask him about it, considering I had already angered him enough today.

Soon Zane came by. Without saying a word, he went into our room and shut the door quietly. I raised an eyebrow.

Was today Act Weird Around Cole Day? Or AWAC Day, for short.

"Wonder what's up with Zane," Kai voiced my thoughts. I shrugged.

"He looked kinda worried," I stated. Zane being worried...now that was something you had to look out for.

I decided to go check on him, but as I reached for the doorknob, Kai grabbed my shoulder firmly.

"He's probably just tired. We shouldn't bother him."

I glanced back at Kai. "As leader, it's my job to watch out for my teammates." I said.

Kai narrowed his eyes. "If Zane was having problems, he'd tell us, wouldn't he?"

I stared at him for a bit more before I realised that he was probably right. Zane would tell us. Sure.

"Alright," I withdrew my hand. "But if he's still bad by tomorrow, I'm asking. Don't try to stop me," I said jokingly.

Kai didn't say anything. He just smirked.

Definitely AWAC Day.


	6. Silent Blades

**Long-ish chapter...not very good though :/ Ugh, I feel so frustrated. This was hard to write. Anyway, hope you enjoy, and review as always! Thanks again for all your feedback~**

_~Kai~_

Urgh...

I didn't know where I was. It was dark and cold and my hand hurt like the Underworld.

I sat up slowly, looking around. I couldn't see anything except for a few small lights floating around in the darkness. A faint red glow from beside me caught my eye, and I tilted my head down. My hand was...shining?

Puzzled, I reached over to touch it, recoiling at the sudden burst of pain that surged through my whole arm. I flinched and gritted my teeth, waiting for the pain to subside.

_Note to self: Don't even think about touching the back of your right hand again._

I still couldn't see anything except the glow from underneath my glove. The surface underneath me was cold, smooth and hard. I hadn't felt any walls yet, and I didn't dare to move from my spot.

Once the pain had passed, I slowly slid my glove off to get a better look at my hand, carefully avoiding the glowing parts. There was a red triangle embedded into the back of my hand, shining a crimson red.

The image slowly ingrained itself into my mind. I hurriedly moved my hand away and blinked a few times.

All I saw was the triangle marking.

I hadn't noticed until now, but there was a soft, low noise in the background. It sounded oddly familiar and rhythmic. Like a...

Heartbeat...

Wait. Was I...inside someone? Man, this was creepy. I tried to remember what had happened before I passed out. I remembered Cole yelling at me. Running away. EK's cold thumb on my forehead. The dizziness.

I cautiously got on my knees and began to crawl around, blindly searching for a door or an exit or anything at all. The lights weren't bright enough to guide me, only enough to be seen. If I came near one, it just went through me. I felt my head touch something flat and solid, so I reached up to feel it. It was warm and hard. A wall?

I stood up and pressed my shivering body against it, taking in its warmth. Why were the floors cold, but the walls warm? This didn't make any sense at all. I turned around, leaned against the wall and slid down into a sitting position, subconsciously gazing at the triangle on my hand again.

"Are you there, EK?" I wondered aloud.

"Yeah," EK's unmistakable voice replied in the darkness. It was like he was standing right in front of me, but it was so dark, and I couldn't feel him even if I reached my hands out.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I took over your body, so now you're in my position," he said.

In his position? "You mean, when I could still see and talk and everything, you were here? In this darkness?"

"Pretty much," he sighed.

"What about these lights?"

"Find out for yourself, you idiot." EK snapped. "Touch one with your right hand."

My ebony gaze flickered from the phoenix to the light closest to me. It was the biggest and brightest of them all. I gingerly stretched my aching hand out and tapped the light. Almost immediately, it expanded, and I saw somebody very familiar inside.

The hallway of the Bounty. Cole was standing there, with a quizzical look on his face.

"Well, I'm gonna go train now, okay? Again, I'm sorry for yelling." His voice was faint, and I had to strain to hear it.

"I already told you, it's okay. Bye," EK said, sounding exactly like me. My eyes widened as I slowly got a hunch of what he—no, I—had done at the gate.

Hastily, I grabbed another smaller light and it expanded, allowing me to see inside. I recognized the background; it was the gate of Ninjago City. Zane was kneeling down beside me—or EK—and I could hear him speak.

"Are you okay?"

My heartbeat accelerated wildly as I backed away from the light. Realization struck me, and I knew that this was my biggest screw-up ever.

I'd given my life to EK.

I growled angrily. "Let me out, now."

"No," EK said simply. "You gave up your mind. No turning back. Besides, this'll be better for you,"

I balled my hands into fists and out of anger, I punched the warm wall. EK gave an audible gasp.

"That wasn't very nice, Kai," he chastised.

"So what?" I retorted. "And I'll keep doing that if you don't let me out."

There was a brief silence. Then a glint of light caught my eye and I gasped. Against the dim lights I saw...

A small, short blade, floating in midair, coming closer and closer...

It disappeared into the darkness and I felt myself panicking. I edged away from the area in fear.

"Kai, I can do much more than hurt you." EK's smooth voice said, his words cutting like knives.

"I can kill you."

I cried out as the blade flew to my hand and sank into my hand, seemingly splitting the red triangle in half. Agony surged through my hand and I couldn't stand it.

Tears ran down my cheeks as I tried to yank the blade out. It just pressed down deeper.

"Stop it!" I screamed desperately, clutching my bleeding hand. The warm thick substance flowed over my fingers.

Slowly, the blade pulled itself out of hand. I couldn't have cared less about what happened to it after. I knelt on the floor, sobbing silently, trying to endure the excruciating pain.

Suddenly something wrapped itself around my hand, stemming the bleeding. By the soft light nearby I saw that EK was bandaging my hand.

_Why are you doing this?_

"Because...if you die, I die." EK's voice was icy and completely emotionless.

"Then why'd you just slice my hand open!?" I asked, still in pain.

"Oh...just revenge I guess." I heard the evident sneer in his voice. "Cold, painful, revenge, for keeping me locked up all these years."

Man, was he right about that...

I looked to the bigger light that danced around in the dark. It showed that EK was walking down the hall of the Bounty toward the game room. I glanced back at the one with Zane and found it repeating itself over and over.

_Hmm, maybe the big one shows the present while the smaller ones show the past or memories or something—ow!_

I hissed in pain. This injury was stupid.

* * *

_~Jay~_

Dinner was way too quiet.

Cole and Kai had made up, but it didn't seem that way at all when we sat down to eat. Kai and Cole were focusing on their hamburgers, eating quietly. Lloyd was eating sloppily as he always did. Naoko and Zane couldn't stop looking up at Kai with skeptical looks. Nya was picking at her food. Sensei was just eating normally.

I squirmed uncomfortably in my chair. The silence was killing me, and I wanted somebody to say something, anything at all.

"Pass the salt, would ya Jay?"

Okay, maybe not anything. I sighed, pushed the saltshaker across the table to Lloyd and took a bite of my burger. The delicious taste of cheese and meat mixed together was enough to make me smile at least a bit.

I wondered if Kai had really changed. I mean, he couldn't have just changed in less than a day, right? To be honest, I liked Kai the way he was. Even though he always blew up in my face, or was rash and all that stuff, he was still a fun guy. If he had altered himself to be more patient, less hot-tempered...it just wouldn't be the same.

Heck, I didn't even know if I liked the idea.

I swallowed the last of my cheeseburger and stood up to put my plate into the sink. Nya finished hers too at that moment, and as we walked to the kitchen together, I felt the familiar heat spreading over my face.

"D-Did you enjoy dinner, Nya?" I asked as I put my plate into the sink.

Nya smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it was pretty good. The dining room we had it in was kinda tense, though."

"I know right? I was like, dying to start a conversation." I chuckled.

Nya laughed. "I was surprised you didn't," she remarked as she took my plate and began rinsing it.

I was too, actually. The dinner table was usually cheery and noisy and full of food and talking. But today was different.

Different...

Have I ever told you how much I hate change?

**Please vote in my poll too! :) Thanks!**


	7. Trepidatious

**All right, I'm finally done with this chapter. :D I don't have much to say...yet...so enjoy! Please review!**

_~Zane~_

Pale moonlight shone in through the bedroom window, casting four squares of light on the wooden floor. Jay's soft snoring could be heard, along with the occasional rustling of blankets.

I, however, was sleepless tonight.

I could not seem to shake the feeling that something was wrong with our fiery brother.

First of all, after dinner, we had been playing video games in the game room. Jay accidentally broke the buttons on Kai's controller, but Kai did not blow up or get angry. He took it quite coolly.

Since he didn't have a controller, Kai had to take turns with us. But he didn't complain about waiting.

Was that enough proof?

These incidents troubled me. Something different was inside him. Surely the absence of his anger and impatience was a good thing, but then why did it feel wrong?

As I tossed and turned in bed, trying to get into sleep mode, I noticed Kai climb down from his bunk and silently leave the room. Longing for answers, I put on my jacket and followed him.

Throwing his hoodie over his pyjamas, he slipped out into the streetlamp-lit city and went to the nearest 24h convenience store. I watched him from outside. Kai stood next to a shelf of sweet confectionary. With a quick movement of his wrist, he had grabbed a bag of cookies.

I did not understand...

A bright red glow caught my attention. My eyes widened as I saw a red marking on the back of Kai's hand.

That triangle..!

Kai glanced around and stuffed the cookies into his pocket. Then he took a packet of cake mix and went to pay for only the came mix.

Whatever had taken our brother away from us...it wasn't about to get away with this.

My body tensed as I prepared for a fight. When Kai came out, he looked up and locked eyes with me. I swear I saw a red tint in the moonlight.

The end of his mouth curled into a smirk. "Zane, nice to see you."

I narrowed my eyes. "What have you done with Kai?" I demanded.

Kai kept his careful and calm composure. "Nothing much. Ask him yourself."

His expression turned scared. "Zane, Zane help me!" Kai shouted frantically before his smirk returned.

I gasped. "You..." I slid my shurikens out of their holders and gripped them tightly.

"Hey, that's not fair," Kai stated, getting into a fighting stance. I gestured for him to bring it on. He snorted and lunged at me, thrusting his fist at my face. I whipped sideways and pointed my shurikens at Kai's feet, freezing them. He growled and broke free quickly, tackling me to the ground.

I struggled to maintain my grip on my shurikens as Kai fiercely tried to yank them out of my hands. I quickly kicked his stomach, throwing him off me. He landed on bended knee and glared icily at me.

_Come on Zane, you can win this! Hit him with everything you got!_

_No! The real Kai is still somewhere in there! You'll hurt him too!_

Kai got up, chuckling quietly. "Don't think you can win that easily, ice boy."

He ran forward and dealt a low kick to me, tripping me. I grunted as my body hit the cold, hard ground. Kai grabbed my arms and flung me into the wall.

Pain escalated through my system and a soft groan escaped my lips as I slid down against the wall. The blurry image of Kai's red-clad figure appeared before me.

"Good night, nindroid."

"I...I'm not going down that easily," I replied, my voice wavering. I rose to my feet, my vision clearing again.

Kai sneered. "Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. You won't even remember any of this."

I blinked. "What?"

"Once I knock you out, this night won't be in your database at all." he chuckled again. "Now sit down and shut up so I can punch you into next week!"

He rose his fist to hit my face, but I blocked him. "Sorry, I don't do time travel." I smirked and pushed him backward onto the ground. Unfortunately, Kai got up, and threw himself at me. Agony exploded from the side of my head and I blacked out.

* * *

_The next morning_

_~Cole~_

The sun rose slowly in the east, bathing the entire city in cool blue light. Peace settled over the buildings and a calm silence hung over the town.

"Where could he be?" I muttered in frustration as I led the team through Ninjago city at 6.38 in the morning. I was tired, cranky and in no mood to go running around town.

_Gotta find Zane...gotta find Zane..._

"Should we split up again?" Jay asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Kai and Jay go north, Lloyd Naoko south, and I'll go east. Then we'll meet in the west."

"Yes sir," Naoko yawned, sprinting down the south side of the city. Kai and Jay took north. I sighed, rubbed my temples, and walked east. I had noticed that Kai hadn't said a word since he woke up this morning, but I hadn't bothered to say anything.

My chocolate brown eyes scanned the still area for signs of my white-clad brother. Nothing—wait, what was that golden thing?

I bolted forward and picked up the item. Zane's shuriken. Fists clenched, I looked around and sure enough, I saw Zane slumped against the wall of a shop, his other shuriken loosely in his grasp. He looked pretty beaten up.

My heart missed a beat as I ran towards him. "Zane! Wake up!" I begged, shaking him gently. He groaned and his ice blue eyes fluttered open to look at me.

"Cole..? What am I doing here..?" he asked dazedly.

"You mean...you don't know?" I responded, slightly weirded out.

Zane looked around. "I don't know,"

Okay, weird. Had Zane gone out by himself? Had Zane been brought out here with someone else? I needed to ask him those, but I had a feeling he wouldn't be able to answer them...

"Okay...do you remember what happened last night?" I inquired quizzically, helping Zane stand up.

Zane rubbed his head. "All I remember is...the triangle,"

"Triangle?" I repeated, and the ice ninja nodded curtly.

The _pineapples_?

I sighed again. "Never mind. Let's get back go the Bounty."

I handed him his other shuriken and we headed west to meet the others. Lloyd and Naoko were waiting there, but Kai and Jay were nowhere in sight.

"Where's Kai and Jay?" I asked.

Lloyd shrugged. "They haven't gotten here yet."

Just as he said that, Kai came walking towards us with a blue-clad figure on his back.

"What happened to Jay?" Naoko gasped.

"Some guy got into a fistfight with him for messing up his stand," Kai answered with a neutral expression.

I shook my head. That Jay...

"We've gotta head back to the Bounty. I'll carry the mouth of lightning," I told Kai and he shifted Jay onto my back. We started for home.

I didn't know why, but the calm silence from earlier had now turned trepidatious.

And I didn't even usually use words that long...

**Okay now that we've come to the end, I gotta reply GlidedCannonball. First of all, thanks for reviewing! :) Secondly, EK stands for Evil Kai actually. I couldn't think of anything else at the time XD Thirdly, Kai does not have multiple personalities (though that would be pretty interesting. I kinda thought of making a story like that. :3) He doesn't take supplements either.**

**See ya guys next time ^^ Hope you enjoyed! Remember to review! Hated it? Loved it? I don't care! :D Just tell me whatcha think of it. Although that's what I say every chapter, but...**


	8. Gotcha

**Yay it's up ^^ Sorry for the late update guys, I was overseas with my family and didn't have time to properly update and stuff :P Anyway I hope you'll enjoy this chapter too. Please review! :) Thank you guys so much for your support, without you guys this story woulda been discontinued a million years ago XD**

**This chapter was kinda hard for me to write due to the...umm...kissing scene. I'm still a kid and I can't write romance well. :X Anyway yeah.**

_~Naoko~_

When we got back to the Bounty, Nya went to treat Jay's wounds. I decided to help.

The poor guy was pretty beat up. There was a bruise on his side, abrasions on his back, dried blood on his ear and cuts on his arm—Nya was ready to maul the stall owner for beating Jay up so badly.

"There should be a rule against that," she muttered furiously as she pressed an alcohol-soaked towel onto Jay's arm. I handed her the bandages and was about to reply when a tap to my shoulder distracted me.

"What is it, Kai?" I asked, turning around.

"Come for a moment,"

I looked back at Nya. "Hey Nya, I'll come back later alright?"

The raven-haired nodded curtly, her dark eyes still hooded with displeasure. I smiled a bit. She was really worried for Jay. If Kai had gotten beat up like that I don't know what I would have done...

I followed Kai out of the room and focused my attention on him. "What is it, Kai?" I repeated my earlier question.

"Hey...well, I don't like you spending time with him," Kai said, his voice slightly edgy.

I raised an eyebrow. "But you've never had a problem with it before. Besides, you know that you've already stolen my heart." I giggled. "And Jay has Nya."

"Sometimes people get a little greedy, Naoko," he replied smoothly. I noticed the way he was talking...usually he would be stuttering a bit but now his tone was calm and composed.

I swallowed a bit. Of course ever since the 'incident', Kai had been acting a little weird. He seemed a lot more controlled...and I didn't like it.

I frowned. "Look, this conversation is getting kinda awkward. If you're worried about me and Jay you can come in and—"

I didn't get to finish my sentence, because at that moment Kai put his hands on my shoulders and pulled me towards him in a tight embrace.

But...something was not right. Where was the usual heat that radiated from my fiery...umm boyfriend?

The heat on my cheeks still spread rapidly, making them a light shade of pink. I swallowed hard again and hugged Kai back, tilting my head upwards to look at his face. He was smiling, but something was off about his whole image.

Still I couldn't find the heart to break away, fearing that he'd take it to offense...

Kai pressed his forehead to mine, its dulling warmth still present. Our noses brushed against each other and our lips were less than a few inches apart. "I'm sorry for acting oddly. I've changed, _watashi no tenshi_. And I can be a better person, for you."

_Watashi no tenshi_...my angel?

"Kai...since when did you know how to speak Japanese?" I whisper-asked.

The only response was a sweet smirk. He slowly leaned in and our lips made contact. Deepening the kiss, Kai's hands stroked my short tawny hair while mine subconsciously caressed his back. His soft tongue rolled over mine, and his mouth tasted like mild spices.

His kiss was intoxicating...

I didn't know why, but at that moment, heat began passing through me. I tried to break away from him but he held me tightly, and there was no escaping now.

My heart rate began speeding up, my head ached, I was scared and felt my consciousness gradually slipping away like soap in wet hands. My lungs burned for air and I couldn't breathe...

Kai...why are you doing this to me?

Inside my mind, I could hear a small voice. It seemed familiar but I couldn't make out who it was.

"What...what are you doing to her!? Leave her alone! I don't care how much you hurt me, but you'd better back off now! You can kill me for all I care, just GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Cold suddenly engulfed me and air rushed into my mouth, an involuntary gasp sounding from my mouth. My vision was blurry as I fell to my hands and knees on the floor, coughing and convulsing heavily.

I saw a red blur before my eyes and then Kai was on his knees as well. Through my dizziness I saw that his eyes were squeezed shut, his hands on his head.

"You...you will not win..._baka_!"

My hands gave way and I winced as I hit the floor with a blunt thud. I groaned audibly, my eyes slowly closing without will...

A red triangle flashed before me, and that was the last thing I saw.

_~Kai~_

I kicked at the ball of light in fury, tears burning in my eyes. The light dissipated for a few seconds before rejoining itself. I clutched the red, bloody fabric in my hands, crumpling the soft material as if it meant nothing.

I tried to help her. I tried. But I failed, and now he got her.

"I hate you!" I screamed angrily, my voice hoarse. "I can't believe you kissed her! And poisoned her as well!"

"Shut up, I did what I had to." EK snarled. "And you had no right to interfere."

I clenched my fists and kicked the wall, chagrin fueling my body. From so many days in darkness I had gotten used to it and could see slightly better. But I felt more frustrated and weaker each passing moment. And you know what was the scariest part of it all?

Red markings. They crawled from my hand, up my arm, all the way up to my shoulder...and the soreness never stopped.

Panting, the tears began streaming down my cheeks again. I couldn't have counted the number of times they'd done so, usually from pain...

I felt something whip against my back, striking the bandages, stinging the scars—and it took up most of my energy trying not to crumple to the ground in agony. I was surprised that that was all he had done to me today.

"St-Stop it."

"Stupid _tankina hito. _Go to sleep."

"That's wh-what I've been doing on and off for the past few days you've held me here." I growled, trying to sound menacing, but my voice cracked and I felt exhausted...

This was all my fault. I had awakened this jerk by being an impatient hothead, acting so impulsively... It was all my fault.

With my back still burning, the tears still welling and my heart still aching, I slowly slid to the floor, lying on my side. It was still brumal and hard but I didn't care anymore. I shifted my bloodied shirt underneath me so that it covered my bare torso. Then I hugged my legs against my chest and closed my eyes.

"I'm so sorry...you know I told you maybe you didn't need me anymore...well, I realise now that it's actually me who needs you," I slurred softly, tiredness beginning to overtake my body yet again.

I wish I could go home...

**Oh and the reason Kai was holding his shirt and not wearing it was because I thought if EK was going to bandage him up he'd have a hard time doing it with Kai's shirt on :P**


	9. Illusion

**Meow.**

**Well, after two days of serious writer's block, I FINALLY got this creepy crud up! :D Yay. As usual, there will be blood and pain and creepiness...yeah. I don't exactly have much to say except sorry this chapter took so unbelievably long. I wrote it all in the past 57 minutes. XD**

_~Kai~_

Agony.

It was everywhere. My head was throbbing, arms were aching, stomach was practically eating itself, back was stinging, legs were completely sore...

I thought my eyes hurt the most when I groggily opened them and was immediately thrown into blinding light. The pain was so immense that my eyes snapped shut, much quicker than when I had opened them.

Wait a minute...light? I hadn't seen light for days, or was it was weeks, maybe even months. I realised I had completely lost track of time. My head spun just thinking about it, like it was attached to my body with a lousy spring.

When had I even fallen asleep in the first place? All I remembered was crumbling to the floor in a sobbing, bleeding heap, the slash on my back burning like nobody's business. Like a weakling.

"EK?" I rasped quietly. His name, those two simple letters...I used to loathe it more than anything before, but now it seemed like a cry for help. EK was the only person I had in the obscurities. Despite him always almost murdering me, he still spoke to me every day, in my voice. Basically, he kept me from going insane in there. I had technically been talking to myself. If what EK said was true about me being a part of him...

...This couldn't be happening. I was actually starting to like him. My aching body screamed _no, no, a THOUSAND times no,_ while my heart and mind were all, _he's the only thing ya got, might as well live with it._

EK didn't respond, which surprised me. Was he still mad about just now? I didn't know, but I guessed it didn't really matter. I could open my eyes a bit now and did so, gently uncurling myself from the huddled-up position I had been in. The warmth of the place hit me, and I unconsciously let out a sigh of bliss. It was like heaven on my scarred skin.

I sat up and observed my surroundings briefly. I was in the middle of a wooden room, with two bunk beds on either side and a door opposite me. Realisation dawned on me as my thoughts traced back to when I still remembered.

This was the Bounty, wasn't it? It was our bedroom...but how could this be? It was impossible...

Just then, the door creaked open and a very familiar auburn-headed boy stepped in. It didn't take long for Jay's emerald gaze to fall on me. The slacking of his jaw soon followed, along with the stutter, "Wh-What happened to you?"

I could have asked him the same question. His arms and ear were bruised and bleeding and everything. I mentally pointed out to myself that I hadn't really seen my own wounds yet, so I had no idea if Jay was being dramatic or if my injuries were honestly that serious.

They did feel serious, though.

But no...this couldn't be happening. EK wouldn't just let me leave for no reason. No way. This was all a dream...all an illusion...

It meant _nothing_.

Jay stepped forward cautiously, his hand outstretched towards me. All I could think of was that this was EK's doing. Jay wasn't really there. No. No no no _no_. He wasn't. It was a trick. There was nothing. I was still in the darkness.

I began to sweat as I slowly inched away from Jay, who just kept coming closer. His jade green eyes turned dull and hollow, as if nearly lifeless. His expression morphed from worry to blankness. He wasn't concerned anymore. "Leave me alone," I whispered breathlessly, my heart hurting with every fast-paced beat. "Leave me alone. You're not real. You aren't." I moved backward and he came nearer until I was leaning against the wall. The pressure made my back blow a fuse but I was too afraid to care.

That's when Jay stopped coming closer. I watched in mute horror as he slowly disintegrated into red dust before disappearing into the floor. I wanted to die. To be completely honest, I was terrified. What was that!? A free of charge creep-fest!?

The room began to swirl, and I clutched my crimson shirt with clammy fists, immobilised by fear. My surroundings slowly dissolved into a completely white room. The floor was cold and the wall was warm. Just like when I was trapped. But the lights weren't anywhere to be found at all, since the whole place was lit anyway.

What the heck was happening to me?

A few moments passed and I thought there wasn't going to be anything happening, so I allowed myself to relax for a split second.

It was a wrong decision.

As soon as turned my head to the side, I noticed red liquid beginning to ooze out from the top of the walls. My heart nearly stopped and my eyes widened in pure shock as I watched the thick substance increase in amount, running down the walls, staining the untainted whiteness. It just kept on flowing and flowing and all I could do was watch.

"You see, _tankina hito_? Precious blood, all wasted..." EK's chilling voice cut the silence like a knife. "They all belonged to people like you. Couldn't control themselves."

I felt my breath getting shorter as I scrambled towards the centre of the room to escape the blood that was dripping down the wall I leaned against. I hugged my knees to my chest and shut my eyes. I didn't want to see this anymore.

"Maybe if you're a good boy, you'll have a luckier fate, eh?"

I clamped my hands over my ears and shook my head. I longed to scream but no sound came out of my mouth.

"Hmm yes...a very obedient fire starter." I could feel EK's hands on my trembling shoulders and tears spilled out of my shut eyes. My heart thundered so fast in my chest I thought I would explode. His hands were freezing, and the longer they were on me, the more frightened I felt.

"Your body will do just fine..."

* * *

_Jay~_

"But—But Cole! He had cuts and bruises and bandages and blood all over the place! It was scary!" I insisted, pointing to the fire ninja that sat, leaning against the wall of the bedroom.

When I had come in earlier to retrieve something, he was really torn and looked terrified of me. I tried to help him but he just edged away from me, saying things like I wasn't really there. How could his expression have changed from as scared as a werewolf near silver to stone cold and calm?

Cole blinked, looking between Kai and I. "He looks pretty okay to me." he said.

"Don't you believe me? I came in and saw him completely beat up. And when I tried to go near him he just moved away! Then I decided to get you but here you are and he's all normal and—" I was practically shouting now, and my side hurt from doing it so vigourously.

"Jay," Cole said patiently, cutting me off in mid-sentence. "There isn't any logic in what you're saying. The only time we set foot outside was this morning, and _you_ were the one who got beaten up. And why would he be scared of you?"

I huffed. "Because he was the one who beat me up! And he probably thought I was gonna get revenge or something!"

Kai's eyes widened slightly, while Cole's are thoughtful. He glanced at Kai. "You were the one who beat him up?"

Now Kai was the one trying to think. After a few seconds, he narrowed his eyes and nodded. "Yeah, I did."

I swear I saw a smile flicker across his face.

Cole frowned, and I could tell he was trying not to yell at Kai. "I thought you said you changed, Kai. For the better."

"..."

The raven-haired turned back to me. "...I'll let the matter slide for now, okay Jay?" His chocolate brown eyes held a tired gaze at me. "For now, I suggest you let your wounds heal. Then you can duel with Kai all you want."

And with that he left the room.

I looked back at Kai, my chest heaving. He was still in the same position, staring at his knees. He did look different somehow, but I couldn't put my finger on it...

I still didn't understand. The injuries, the bandages, the stains, they had all vanished without a trace. It...it didn't make sense. I was pretty sure I'd seen what I had seen. Or had I?

Maybe my injuries were messing with my head.

I sighed and pressed a hand to my sore temples. Yeah, that was it. Kai wouldn't let himself get beat up that badly. No way in the Underworld.

...Right?

**And the answer, Jay, is NO! D: Because as you can see, Kai's on the verge of breaking. Like a flame kept in a jar too long...he'll go out soon. Review my followbees :3**

**I'm so curious yeah~ Man. I need to stop being so cheerful at the end of every chapter. -_-**


	10. Just Remember

**Meh. This chapter is boring. :/ Sorry. I'm really tired now, but I have tuition later and won't be able to update or anything. I just feel bad for not updating. D: Okay well...enjoy! More of a filler chapter, but eh I'm just glad its done. Now I can focus on other things...**

_~Zane~_

I watched the tawny-haired girl curl up in a ball on her bed. Her petite figure trembled under the thin sheets, her face still slightly flushed. The wet towel I had pressed to her forehead a few minutes ago had gained heat to become warm in precisely 6.34 seconds, which was not a good sign.

Even without taking a blood test, I already knew what was wrong with Naoko. She had been poisoned, but I was not sure of the exact toxins that had entered her bloodstream and infected her.

It was extremely farfetched. How could she have suddenly got sick like this? It made no sense, and the matter confused me. In addition, I sensed danger—very near us. Nya had been keeping the Bounty on high alert for nearly an hour now.

Still nothing had showed. I assumed it was just as well; with all this chaos in the Bounty we would not be focused enough to defend the city from Garmadon or the serpentine.

"How is she?" a concerned voice came from the doorway, and I was surprised to hear it. I turned towards it to lock eyes with Jay's deep emerald ones.

"Temperature still at 39.7 degrees, and there has been no change at all." I replied quietly, my eyes taking in Jay's ragged appearance. He held his side gently and there were bandages on his arms and ear.

My lightning brother sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "That sucks." He stepped noiselessly over the wooden floorboards towards me and sat down slowly, crossing his legs.

The anticipation that hung in the air, along with the many nerves that emitted from Jay's unusually tense aura told me all I needed to know. "You have something you would like to inquire?" I asked, dipping the washcloth in hand into a small bucket filled with water slowly.

"Um...well yeah," Jay said, the uneasiness tainting his words. "I...uh, can you help me?"

I gently wrung the water out of the cloth and placed it on Naoko's warm forehead, nodding curtly in response to my blue-clad brother.

"Well, you're not gonna believe this, but...I think I may be seeing things."

My curiosity piqued, my eyes darted towards Jay. "Example?"

He rubbed the back of his neck subconsciously. "Uh...well after I heard that Naoko was sick I went to the bedroom to get something for her. I saw Kai sitting in the middle of the room. He was covered in bloodstained bandages and when I tried to help, he just shrunk away. When I went to get Cole he was suddenly alright again and I...yeah..."

_Bandages... _I frowned. The word echoed soundlessly in my head. Why did it seem so familiar? The whole scene struck something inside me and there was something I felt I needed to remember very urgently.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Jay sighed, his voice cracking.

I shook my head quickly. "No, I do not. I am just thinking. I do not presume you have gone mental, in fact, what you may be perceiving to be Kai's image may actually mean something. I simply cannot remember what there is to it." I told him as I re-soaked the wet washcloth into the water, which I cooled drastically with my element.

"But...I don't know, it doesn't make any sense. I know you're never wrong and all, and I trust you, it's just that..." Jay's hand went down his face. "He-he looked so...not Kai."

My stomach flipped itself over and I swallowed hard. I was not sure if it was Jay's nerves were rubbing off onto me or my sixth sense nagging at me again. Something about what he was saying. It was the truth. But what was exactly? Kai being odd? However, we had already established that fact. Kai not being himself?

Kai not even being here?

Then it hit me.

The memories of that night. I had snuck out and followed Kai, resulting in getting myself beat up by who I knew wasn't my brother. He erased my memory...

Oh...

"Zane? Zane!" Jay's anxious tone practically slashed my thoughts in half. I blinked and shook my head a bit too vigourously, rousing a slight headache on the left of my forehead. I looked to see Jay's eyes wide with panic, staring straight into mine.

His lips slowly parted as he noticed the look in my azure orbs. "Y-You..."

"Yes," I said, despite the throbbing in my head. "I remember now."

"Tell me," Jay's eyes now gleamed with curiosity.

Quickly, I told him of the once forgotten events that had transpired a few days ago. When Kai had stolen that cake mix, when he had beat me up and taken my memory. I distinctly remembered the look in his eyes when I didn't go down that night. Wild, crazed and desperate.

And then there had been those two seconds.

"Wait, wait, wait." Jay held up a hand. "For you, he was a thief and beat you up. For me, he beat me up and then acted strangely in the bedroom—scared and injured. What kind of connection is that?"

"I am guessing," I replied, "that there are more sides to Kai than you might think."

The temperature of the room suddenly dropped a few degrees. An icy presence made itself known as the door swung open and a very familiar person stepped in.

"Greetings, gentlemen," his unbelievably quiet, calm and cunning voice said. "And how are we this fine day, hmm?"

I dropped the washcloth into the bucket of water and looked up to see Kai. His appearance shocked me.

His left eye was completely blood red, save for a midnight black pupil directly in the middle. An angry red line ran down over that eye, with the top fraying into small spikes. It trailed down to his neck.

Jay squeaked. "K-Kai!"

My body tensed. "That...is not Kai," I said firmly.

Kai kicked the door and it closed with a quiet click. He smiled deviously at me. "Smart guy. Too bad you had to remember—I think I liked you better when you didn't."

His glare darted from me to Jay. "Looks like you could withstand my power after all. But it doesn't matter. I can easily take your memory away now, little weakling."

"Hey! I am not a weakling!" Jay protested, blue electricity sparking from his tightly clenched fists. "And I'll prove it!"

I pulled Jay backwards, restraining him. "What have you done with Kai?" I demanded. "Tell us now!"

Kai folded his arms. "Oh don't worry, he's perfectly safe. To me, that is. But for now, I think I'll have a little fun with you..."

His fist ignited with pitch black flames.

"...and you won't be able to remember any of it."

**Oh, and thank you all so much for your reviews! These are the most I've ever gotten! 74! :D THANK YOU! **


	11. No

_~Jay~_

This guy wanted to bring it?

So confident of himself. Ha! We'd prove him wrong.

I kept my glare on the spiky-haired red-clad guy who I once thought was my brother. I mentally slapped myself. How could we have been so blind? Here was this jerk, somehow passing off as Kai, the danger being right under our noses the whole time...

The electricity circling my fists increased in intensity the more I glared at him. The pain in my side seemed to dissipate, though it didn't leave completely. "You really sure about that?"

Kai's eyes studied Zane and I. I guessed he was probably searching for weaknesses or handicaps or whatever he could use against us. A smirk played on his lips. "I'm sure."

And then he struck.

The burst of dark flames that beamed from his hand was aimed directly at my chest. I managed to duck in time and without missing a beat, I threw cerulean lightning back at him. He dodged the attack, causing the electricity to leave a weird black mark on the door. A gust of freezing wind passed me as Zane's element shot from his fists. Sadly, Not-Kai was able to dodge that too.

I swallowed hard and readied myself for the next attack. Not-Kai still had his mouth curled into that infuriating sneer, and I was eager to maybe punch it off or something.

"Is that all you got?" he taunted cockily.

"Heck no!" I replied immediately, letting sparks fly from my fists again. They struck his arm, but he seemed unfazed. I could tell by the contortion of his face that it hurt, though.

He quickly regained composure and the smirk returned just as swiftly.

_Dang, he's good..._

Zane then went in for the kill and tried tackling Not-Kai to the floor. But either the opposition was strong or Zane was more affected than I had thought, because the ice ninja was fighting a losing battle. Even as he pushed on Not-Kai's arms with all his might, his were trembling terribly and his teeth were clenched together, while Not-Kai was still grinning wickedly.

"I...won't lose again..." Zane breathed, his cyan eyes gleaming with determination.

"Oh really?" Not-Kai chuckled. I noticed a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead as he pushed Zane harder.

...Well, why not?

"Psyche!" I called, blasting my element at him. Kai's blood-red eye abruptly flashed and he slipped out from under Zane in a split second. The electricity zapped the nindroid and a cry of pain resounded through the room.

_NO!_

"Zane!" I cried desperately, my eyes taking in the sight of my ice brother on his hands and knees, twitching and sparking. My hands flew to my mouth; what had I done!?

The hitch in Zane's breath was prominent, but he turned to me and weakly gave a smile. "J-Jay...it's fine..."

"No! No it isn't!" I exclaimed, my voice a lot more high-pitched than it had been a few seconds ago. Oh man this was so bad, if Zane was injured I wouldn't be able to live with myself anymore, he might forget all about this and then I wouldn't be able to prove anything and—

"Just...remember to...remember..." Zane gasped frailly. "I...I won't forget.."

His body fell with a metallic clang as he short circuited out, his system shutting down. I eyed him warily. Thankfully he wasn't smoking or anything, because that could have turned out to be a problem...

I clenched my fists. "I can't _believe_ you made me do that." I muttered, my tone now cold and deep. It scared me, but somehow, I didn't really care anymore.

Not-Kai huffed. "I can. What were you thinking, huh? Zapping your friend is an absolute no-no," he chided mockingly. I felt the fury and frustration begin to gather inside of me. My expression darkened.

He had hurt too many of my friends...and now he would pay.

Without warning I bolted forward and had him pinned to the wall. My chest heaved and sweat matted both our bangs to our foreheads. Angry adrenaline pulsated through my veins as I scowled straight into his stony eyes.

His left eye looked way more demonic up close. It was shiny, and the odd part was that it barely had any intricate details that you usually see in normal eyes. It was simply a black pupil among the red.

But his right eye...

It was a light shade of grey, different from Kai's usual eye colour. Hints of red flared within the pupil.

I forced my forearm against Not-Kai's chest. "Any last words before I punch you into next week?"

He narrowed his eyes and let out a low chuckle. "Whatever you do to me, you do to Kai."

That sentence made me freeze completely. I bit my lip. That meant if I hurt him, I hurt Kai just as badly. And how much had he already hurt Kai?

Or what if this was all a lie? Just a trick to get me to free him? I mean, it wouldn't really be possible, right?

But if he was right, I'd just be rubbing salt into Kai's wounds and I couldn't, I just couldn't do that to him or anyone else.

I was mentally falling apart. My side started burning again, as did the tears in my eyes. I had to convince myself that he was lying. That Kai wasn't going to be hurt and everything would be okay.

So why did it seem so true?

I shut my eyes, the tears gathering in the corners of my emerald eyes. My elbow dug deeper into Not-Kai's chest, and a choked gasp escaped his mouth.

Kai's shout of agony suddenly rang through my mind. I convulsed and in my shock, I stumbled backward, my grip on Not-Kai loosening for a second. In next to no time at all, he had me stuck to the wall.

Between a enemy and a hard place.

My mind was amass with questions and thoughts, and the pain in my side made it even harder to focus. But I did know one thing...

I had let down Zane.

He was counting on me, and I failed him. I let my confusion overwhelm me. I was going to be knocked out. I was a weakling.

I...I...

I felt...wet?

My vision swam into clarity and I saw Not-Kai. He still had me pinned to the wall, but something was different. His expression was just unreadable.

A small, red water bucket lay on the floor, the remaining liquid leaking out onto the wood with gusto. Most of it had disappeared though...

Then I saw her.

Naoko was standing beside her bed, her right hand pressed to her forehead, and her legs shaking. Her eyes were exhausted. But she stared straight at us.

"Let him go."


	12. Maybe I Won't Remember

**UUUUUUUGH.**

**"Another Naoko-oriented chapter! DARN YOU WAFFLE!" That's what some of you might be saying. I think. Look I know things have been kinda lame and boring and maybe even long-winded but I promise the others will come in soon. Like next chapter. If Lloyd or Cole aren't in the next chapter you guys can throw mugs at me. Or pies. xD**

**Enjoy the kinda short chapter! Also I forgot to mention that the water-bucket-being-thrown-idea was by KitKat8965. Credit goes to her. :)**

_~Naoko~_

The first thing I noticed was Zane sprawled on the floor.

I didn't know what had happened to him but that would have to wait for later. Seeing the situation, it looked like Kai had taken him down and was about to wipe Jay out.

I took a shaky breath and got into a fighting stance. My head was pounding but I had to ignore it. I had no choice. Jay was such a good friend to me, and I wasn't going to let Kai—or at least, whoever looked like him—break him.

The red-clad teenager sneered, his askew glare in his demon eye seeming to flare right through my own. His arm was still firmly pinning Jay to the wall. "Pathetic," he spat.

"Doesn't calling your own work pathetic make you the same?" I retorted stoically, clenching my fists. He really sounded like Kai. Just a lot more brumal, more icy. I had to remember he wasn't actually the person I loved so much.

Ice in a fire ninja was never good...right?

_Dang it, my head is killing me..._

"Not exactly," he replied. I noticed that Jay's eyes were huge and wet. His body trembled and I could tell he was really really confused.

It all depended on me.

But I was worried I wouldn't be able to complete the task.

Distractedly, I threw my element at Kai. It was a weak shot and he dodged it with ease. "You're gonna have to do better than that, watashi no tenshi," he said, his words sliding off his tongue like butter. There was that name again.

I swallowed, only to find a large, painful lump in my throat. What was I thinking, going into battle completely unarmed and sick? It had been foolish, stupid of me. But I couldn't have just lay there watching.

Grey matter swirled around my fists and I exhaled deeply. The stabbing behind my eyes was hard to deal with.

Kai's fire lashed out at me in an ebony, burning trail which I forced myself to sidestep. The sickness made it harder to move but I had to keep going. Too much at stake to back down.

As grey matter began circling my fists, Kai pulled Jay out from behind him and held said blue-clad guy in front like a human shield. I audibly let out a groan; he couldn't do this to me.

Jay seemed frozen, and I didn't know what on earth he was trying to pull. He just didn't move. Suddenly I felt pretty angry at him. He had to let himself into that position. And I was expected to save him. It was so frustrating!

I mentally yelled at myself to keep my cool. It wasn't Jay's fault. Anti-Kai was just messing with our emotions. That was what I thought he did. I went along with it.

I lowered my fists. "Put him down," I demanded quietly. "Now,"

Kai's fingers dug into Jay's arms, holding on so tightly I found it odd. Was he scared or something? Hurting Jay on purpose? Or just trying to piss me off? He was doing a good job at everything though.

My eyes hurt and I blinked rapidly a few times. I caught a glimpse of Kai's smirk. "Well?" I asked again, tired and impatient.

"Oh," he raised an eyebrow, demon eye flashing red. "you mean...like this?"

Quicker than I could react to, he forcibly flung Jay into the wall. The lighter-haired didn't make a noise as his body crashed against the hard wood, landing with a noisy thud on the equally hard floor.

"Jay," I breathed, unable to yell anymore. Tears burned in my ashen eyes. I could almost feel his pain shooting through my body.

Or that could have just been my body aching.

A heartbroken whimper escaped my mouth. I couldn't do it. I was too weak. I had failed.

My knees gave way and they hit the ground, but my body stayed upright. Kai walked over to me, kicking the fallen water bucket as he came, and pulled me by the collar, so close that his breath condensed on my face.

"Pathetic," he whispered wickedly, a grin spreading over his lips. "Just like him,"

I knew who he was talking about.

"He...he is...not pa...pathetic," I gasped. Kai wasn't strangling me, but him just grabbing my collar was all I needed to feel the same way. My heart was ricocheting wildly in an erratic rhythm. I saw sweat trickle down Kai's forehead.

Kai planted a cold, dry kiss on my scorching forehead. "Oh yes he is," he chuckled. "Wouldn't it be better if you loved me instead?"

And then...I couldn't remember anything else.

**AHHHHHH! 93 REVIEWS! AMG THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH...I DON'T DESERVE YOU ;u; (Sorry school is making me emo) xD**


	13. Disturbia

**Another kinda short chapter...but I'm satisfied! :D Yay! Sadly I have school tomorrow. I feel pimply. xD But oh well. This chapter is more lighthearted compared to the others :3 I hope you guys enjoy, and leave a review! **

_~Lloyd~_

I paced down the hallway of the Bounty, feet patting the wooden floorboards rhythmically. The sweet, yet slightly bitter taste of the chocolate ice cream tantalised my tastebuds as I licked the cold, sticky dessert. A smile played on my lips as I turned a corner.

The sound of shattering glass sliced through the oddly quiet air, and my heart jumped in my chest. My head jerked to the side abruptly, only for my amethyst gaze to meet with the closed image of Nya's bedroom door.

Crap.

The cone slipped from my grasp and landed on the floor as I kicked the door open. I was greeted with the sight of Kai standing in front of the window, hand extended through a jagged hole in the glass. Naoko rested limply over his shoulder, eyes half-closed and heavy dilated. Soft, continuous coughing racked her skinny body. Not far from them Zane was unconscious on the floor, with Jay lying near the wall, not facing me and not moving.

The eye that glared at me was stabbing, soulless and heartless. The red stripe running across it creeped me out. The smirk that followed was of pure bane.

"Looks like our little green friend has decided to join the party," he said coldly. "But I'm afraid you're too late,"

"K-Kai, what's going on?" I asked, my voice shaking terribly. I didn't understand. Was this how Kai had changed? I hadn't thought it would ever get this intense.

"Sorry Lloyd, I'm in a rush," he chuckled, lowering his fist. Fresh blood oozed from his knuckles. It reminded me of the first time when he punched the wall. Only this time he was smiling like he had never smiled before. "I'll have to get back to you later,"

"Stay right there!" I shouted abruptly. "There is no way I'm letting you—"

He didn't even wait for me to finish before he pushed himself and Naoko out the window. I bolted forward and looked down to see nothing but the ocean's sun-reflected surface a few hundred feet underneath us.

He was gone.

I slumped to the floor. I had let him get away. I had _let_ him get away! I was the freakin' green ninja, and I let my own brother escape my clutches.

Was he even still my brother? I knew Kai was crazy, but not that crazy. I mean, he loved Naoko to pieces. He would never do anything to hurt the girl. Never.

Unlike me.

I shook my head, focusing back on the situation at hand. Right now, there was a smooth-talking criminal on the loose, and we had no idea where to look.

Absolutely perfect...

I hurried over to where Jay was lying and turned him onto his side. His emerald eyes were closed, the exhaustion written clearly on his face. Tears had trickled down and crossed nearly every square inch of his face, making me assume that he had been..well, crying in a few positions. There were stains going downward, horizontally, and even diagonally.

Had Jay been tossed around in a blender or something!?

I shook him awake, and as his eyes slid open, he sprung into a sitting position and grabbed my shoulders harshly.

"Where did he go?"

I gulped. "O-Out the w-window,"

Jay took a short, sharp breath. "Out the window!? The freaking _WINDOW_?!" he yelled furiously and dashed to the window, pushing roughly past me, as if the bandages around his legs and the bruises on his arm didn't matter at all. He looked out of it, his burnt ember-coloured hair ruffled.

I could hear the blood thumping rapidly in my ears. Why was I so frightened? Why couldn't I breathe? Maybe it was because I had never seen Jay so worked up, unless it was over Nya or something. Maybe it was because my brothers were all drifting away from one another. Maybe it was because my lightning brother was now having a full-blown panic attack.

His hysterical outbursts of "We have to stop him!" "How could you let him get away!?" and "He might freakin' kill somebody!" confused me. First things had been perfectly okay, just me and ice cream, and the next minute, my lightning brother was screaming mindlessly into my ear about how my fire brother could wreck the whole of Ninjago.

"Jay, will you please slow down and maybe shut up for a while so I can actually understand what the fish is going on here," I sighed loudly, resting a hand on Zane's back. The metal felt slightly charged, giving me a mild shock that tickled my veins.

He inhaled and exhaled deeply. "I-I'm sorry Lloyd. I'm just saying, Kai isn't who you think he is. He's really, really changed. Heck, he probably isn't even still Kai. Don't ask me how he got like that but he probably has Naoko and will do worse things." Jay told me breathlessly.

I tried to digest what he'd just said. So there was somebody posing as Kai who had kidnapped Naoko, defeated three elemental ninja and was highly capable of creating even huger disasters.

It was extremely outlandish.

But hey, when you live on a floating ship with a few weird guys, two tomboy girls, a sensei and a nindroid, I guess anything counts as outlandish.

I looked up into Jay's green orbs, his frantic stare seeming to burn through my skull. "Alright Jay, take out that screwdriver of yours and fix Zane. I've got a Cole to convince, a Nya to inform and two friends to save,"

Jay stared at me for a few seconds before he grinned weakly and slipped a dirty cerulean screwdriver out of his pocket.

"Roger, captain Lloyd,"

**Annnnnnnnnnd...WE CROSSED THE 100 REVIEW MARK! :DDDDD askdjjdsjkfkfkdks I'd never thought I'd ever reach even a fifty reviews but, oh my gosh guys, you are so awesome. :'D Thank you all so much for reading this story. It's far from the best stories here but I just thank you all for enjoying my writing. I can't write this crap in school so this is really just somewhere for me to write as I want. I am really grateful for you guys.**

**I WANNA GIVE YOU ALL HUGS. COME HERE DUDES. *hugs* Thanks for making me, a simple twelve-year-old-soon-to-be-thirteen-in-a-month-or-so girl, so ecstatic. :D And I won't let guys down..I'll work hard on this story for you! ^^**


	14. A Different Set of Eyes

**Once again, thank you all so much for your positive and loving reviews! Honestly, you guys make me smile like an idiot whenever I read your reviews X3 And that's a good thing. This chapter...kinda meh, but I still worked hard on it. Enjoy :)**

_~Kai~_

The blurred, shady silhouette of a boy loomed over me. The change of colour and atmosphere in my environment made everything hurt. My eyes, my body and my heart.

_His_ grin flickered through my vision, the lunacy and menace completely undisguised. I could only stare up at him nearly lifelessly, tiredly, defeatedly. _He_ seemed to blend in with the red walls around us, his figure gaining in red tint.

_His_ brumal, deep chuckle seemed to thunder in my ears. It was only thing I could actually hear clearly. He spoke after that, but I couldn't hear anything. _His_ mouth moved but the cries ringing in my ears drained out his voice.

For the first time, I hoped this was just another of his stupid illusions. In reality, I was still in the pitch black room, dying a little every day, health lessening hour by hour. I would have rather been in there than where I was now.

It had never been present before, but the sense of doom drawing near was surrounding me, overpowering anything else I was capable of feeling in this state. The bloody wall incident felt a million years ago, yet I could remember it so vividly.

There wasn't just blood now. I heard screaming too. The agony, the extreme heartache, the emotion in those high-pitched sound waves were driving me directly to the breaking point.

Maybe even enough to make me want to die.

But I couldn't die. _He_ had told me there were people who still loved me, who were searching for me, who even cared.

If so, why hadn't they come yet?

And why couldn't I remember who they were?

What if he was just saying that to motivate me to live on, just so he could watch me die slowly and painfully?

What was the difference?

I still died in the end.

This sadistic thought brought a smile to my face. No more inhumane pain. No more incessant shrieking. No more twisted thinking. No more love, no more hate, no more blood, no nothing.

Nothing.

Wait, hadn't I just contradicted myself? First I wanted out. Then I wanted in. Jeez, this guy was seriously screwing up my ability to think straight.

I felt something hard and round click against my scratched-up wrists. I shook my arms limply, finding my hands tightly cuffed together. Oh please. As if I could actually do anything even without those handcuffs. I could barely even walk now, let alone escape from handcuffs.

What an idiot...

"You do know, I can hear your thoughts,"

_His_ sudden voice among the muffled screams might as well have been a sharp scratch at my neck. A strangled cry jumped out of my throat. Nobody was touching me but it felt like somebody was trying to claw my head off. I coughed, air coming in short, brief gasps.

The shirt of my collar was abruptly yanked upwards, causing pain to course through my upper body. My head lolled back to look into a pair of glowing grey eyes.

_Grey._

I felt my body temperature go cold and my eyes widened. The fuzziness tugging at the corners of my vision made it hard to see who it was, but I knew it was somebody I had seen before. It was different from the blood red, piercing glare he always gave me, different from the eyes of the wailers...

This pair was simply looking at me, no malice, no menace, no fear, no hurt. It was clear there wasn't a trace of happiness, or sadness, or anger.

There wasn't anything at all.

_~Cole~_

I thrust my fist forward, a solid thump emanating from the surface of the punching bag. The sun burned down through the fabric of my black ninja suit, the warmth hugging my entire body.

A sudden breeze made my greasy hair hit my already-sweaty face, annoying the Underworld out of me. I brushed my bangs away and dealt a hard kick to the punching bag.

I didn't know why, but I had been feeling really off lately. Frustrated, moody and irritable could have been the top three most used adjectives to describe me then. Training always helped me calm down somewhat, so I'd come out onto the deck to try and vent my frustration onto these numb dummies.

Well, it hadn't worked, that was all I could say. I'd been trying to mutilate this punching bag for nearly an hour and I still felt like something was eating me. Not literally.

Frenzied footsteps scampering up the stairs onto the deck interrupted my thoughts. I glanced askew to lock gazes with our favourite green ninja.

His eyes were shimmering with dauntlessness, but I could see the slight unease in those lavender orbs. "What is it, Lloyd?" I queried.

Lloyd stared at me with such intensity that I raised an eyebrow. "What?" I asked again, feeling annoyance start to kick in.

"Cole, I know you'll think I'm off my rocker, but I need you to listen to me." he spoke with a controlled, even voice, like he was trying to tell something difficult to a kid. I blinked.

"Alright then, lay it on me," I said.

Lloyd inhaled quietly. "Kai just jumped off the Bounty with Naoko, Jay is fixing an electrocuted Zane, and Nya is steaming. Also, Kai could possibly be possessed, take over the world and enslave us all."

I was speechless.

"Wh-What? But...how is this possible?" I stammered. Lloyd rolled his eyes.

"Did you really not see it coming?"

Had I? Now that he mentioned it, maybe I wasn't the only one who had been off his game recently. Talking like Zane, out of character-ness, strange events happening...they all suddenly made sense now.

Or was Lloyd trying to pull my leg? I didn't...I couldn't think. The hurting between my eyes made it hard to focus. I stared back into Lloyd's stoic eyes. I didn't see any reason not to believe him, and he looked so sincere. But how?

The very idea of Kai being able to manipulate us all like that, so easily, made my blood run cold. It was just unfathomable. And if what Lloyd said was true, if Kai had been able to fool us all, then what could he do to everyone else?

It definitely wasn't going to be good.

I sighed and ran a hand through my sweat-slicked hair. "Damn it...you can't be serious. How are we supposed to stop him?"

Lloyd furrowed his thin eyebrows. "Why don't you tell me? You're the leader. The leader who chastised him, yelled at him, just cut him down when he needed our help." he spat, the tears glistening in his eyes.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Intense guilt clawed at my chest. I was the cause of this. Of course. It was always me. The leader who messes up.

_Shut up, Cole! You can NOT think like that if you're going to lead what's left of your team to victory. Right now, Kai and Naoko need to be saved, and that's what you're going to do._

I put a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. "I know that now. I believe you Lloyd, and I promise we will bring them home. And I will make things right."

Lloyd's apprehensive frown slowly curled into a smile.

"Thanks, Cole," he said finally. "I'm just glad you believe me."

With new willpower and dogmatism pushing all my previous emotion aside, I picked my scythe up from the deck's surface and sheathed it.

"I'm glad too, Lloyd."

**MUST...STOP...ENDING...WITH...DIALOGUE! FRAHHH! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed. :) Please review, and remember to study/work hard, play harder, and BE AWESOME IN EVERYTHING YOU DO!**

**Reply to GlidedCannonBall: I don't think I ever said that Kai didn't have split personalities. I just said he didn't take medication. ;) *HINT HINT* But you'll just have to wait and see the final outcome! I hope you liked the chapter! **


	15. Colours of Evil

_~Zane~_

The darkness hurt more than I had presumed. First there was a sharp jolt of numbness in my arm, followed by spreading agony and malfunction in my wires. It was hard to talk, hard to breathe, and hard to see.

Thus, I unwillingly ceased all, plunging my body into what I hoped was temporary...deadness.

With the electricity still tingling in my body, I felt myself fade into the black. I realised I could still move, and that I was still sentient, self-aware...

Hmm. Jay's power had been immense, but not enough to knock me out entirely. In a way I was glad...but this could mean trouble. My brothers and I had been training, fighting to our extremes. Yet he who had we had tried to stand up to, took us down as if we were nothing.

Who knew how much power he possessed? Or where he obtained such strength?

The numbness lingered in my limbs, still I could feel my bionic heart thumping erratically in my chest. So this was what the aftermath of a shock felt like to a nindroid. I did not blame Jay. There was always something to learn or gain from bad experiences.

Then I saw a girl standing in the darkness. Puzzled, I tried to call her but I could not. I watched as she turned around. Her dark eyes shone in the blackness, her hair blending in with the surrounding. She looked straight at me.

"Find the flames within the fire," she whispered, and I recognised her voice. My eyes widened abruptly as her image flashed again, only now this time her face was splattered with fresh blood. My inconsistent heartbeat sped up—th-thump, th-th-thump, thump, th-thump, th-thump th-thump th-thump.

A light tap to my hard drive startled me. She disappeared and I tried to open my eyes but they did not obey. I remained still, feeling the oddly familiar sensation of a metal object grazing the scratched surface of my hard drive.

Iridescence flew at me like a speeding bullet, the abrupt blast of colour stunning me. A quiet, high-pitched buzzing sound filled my ears, mixed with the soft dialogue of a small boy. These two sounds gradually got louder and deeper.

"...ne..."

I blinked, trying to focus but the colours were just a blurred mix. The sounds were blended together like a bad song played backwards. Frustration began building inside me, something that never really happened to me. I tried to think of what she had said earlier. Find the fire..?

"...Zane..."

The one syllable of my name seemed to make everything snap back into my place, my vision, my hearing, my heartbeat, and maybe even my mind. I found myself lying down, staring up at the light coffee-coloured ceiling of the room I last remembered myself to be in. High noon light flitted in through the shattered window, the sun glaring down into my eyes.

I pushed myself up to sit straight, the numbness disappearing. I felt completely normal—nothing hurt at all now. I glanced askew to see Jay peering hopefully into my pale irises, and his own forest green ones were rinsed with relief and triumph as a smile danced upon his lips.

"Zane! Y-You're back!" he cried, wiping his brow with the back of his wrist. My eyes followed the faded blue screwdriver clutched tightly in his right hand and I smiled.

"I never left, my brother," I said softly.

Jay bit his lip, the strong emotion swirling puzzlingly in his eyes. "You do remember, right?"

"About a certain fire-wielding ninja taking us down, kidnapping his sick girlfriend, and who could possibly be worse than Garmadon? How could I forget?" I replied, standing up. A red bucket lay overturned on the damp wood, rolling quietly. The water had vanished. The blankets on a bed pushed towards a wall had been kicked off. The pillow was on the floor.

It didn't take a genius to find out what had happened.

I looked to Jay, expression hardening. "Does Cole know about the current situation?" He nodded brusquely.

"Lloyd knows too. He went to tell the others. We should meet them in the brig," Jay told me, slipping the screwdriver into his pocket. I examined the wounds on his limbs and frowned.

"You are injured."

"I know."

"Jay—" I began calmly.

"Zane," he repeated my name with equal firmness and levelled-ness. "Before you start lecturing me, I know I'm not at my greatest. That doesn't mean I can't fight. I might have lost to Not-Kai this time but I won't lose again."

I remained silent. Part of me told me to object, that we would not stand a chance against somebody with that huge a power level, while the other agreed with my lightning brother. He had the determination, and now he had us. Little help was better than no help at all.

A smile grazed my lips, and all I could do was nod.

What Jay didn't know wouldn't hurt him after all. If he knew the things the monster inside Kai could accomplish, he would probably get really frightened. I decided it was best not to let him know.

At least, not yet.

We went out onto the deck, where the others were waiting. The first thing that hit me was the heat. My internal thermometer told me it had to be over 35 degrees Celsius—not good. Gazing up at the cloudless, fluorescent blue sky, the sun seemed to be trying to burn us.

I looked down to see Cole and Lloyd already standing on the deck with Nya. "Are you guys ready to leave?" Cole asked, casting a slightly concerned glance in my direction.

"Wait. We don't know where Kai is," Lloyd said suddenly. "How are we going to find him?"

_Find the flames within the fire._

"I know where he is," I deadpanned, lips curling into a knowing smile. All heads turned to look at me, and I saw hers as well, though her eyes were filled with confusion. They did not shine in the light either. "The Fire Temple,"

Cole looked at me, eyebrow raised. "Didn't that place collapse a long time ago?"

He has pulled the wool over your eyes, my brother...

"I have not sourced the cause of it, but the Fire Temple has seemed to have been reestablished and is in stable condition once again." I stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Cool then, let's go." Jay pulled his ninja hood on. "Or should I say, hot then?"

It was a terrible joke, but even Lloyd smiled at that.

Indeed, it looked like this would take a toll on my part, but it did not matter. I would fight for my nearly-fallen brother.

The real one.

_~Naoko~_

I fingered the oxygen mask strapped to my nose and mouth mutely, breathing silently as I looked into his mismatched eyes.

Red, grey, black. The only colour in them. Mine were pure grey. They had always been. At least, I wished they were. Why I wished I did not know. It was not as if I wanted them to be grey.

His eyes watered, another choked sound emanating from his throat. To me it looked like he was having a seizure. He acted like he was in pain, clutching at his neck in agony. Yet there was nothing there. His skin had gratefully been left untainted by Master's vicious hands. His breathing was shaky and heavy, and it looked like he was trying to speak.

I told myself not to get nervous or excited. I was not going to feel anymore. Master had told me, the oxygen mask was special, it was delicate, and it kept me alive through this sickness that had consumed majority of my body. Until I had the antidote, I echoed in my mind, until I had the antidote, I refrained from even thinking of anything to do with feeling...

I'll admit, it was difficult as hell.

Master telling me to guard this boy who still evoked such strong emotion but had less energy in his tattered body than a dead ant would have wasn't helping. It was empathy, sympathy, maybe even pity—that was trying to force the air out of me. The occasional cry from his body reminded me that he was in seemingly omniscient pain. I could not do anything to rid myself of this ear-piercing wailing due to me being confined to this chair.

It wasn't love. No, of course not. I had no time for such wild desires. This was a matter of life-and-death, yes...

The heat radiating from the bright orange-red magma that surrounded us didn't help much either. Being feverish and in a volcano wasn't the best combination. I was thankful for how short my hair was.

I looked past him to the other end of the volcano, where a narrow cave-like entrance had been carved out. That was where Master spent most of his time since we'd arrived. The darkness shielded me from what went on inside, leaving me quite uninformed on just what Master's intentions were or what he did all the time.

Master knelt down beside our prisoner, his eyes positively alive with malicious glee as they met with the latter's dying ones. "Having fun, Kai?" he whispered, sounding slightly demented. The joy on his face was evident—he was winning, and he liked it.

I closed my eyes. Watching him made my heart race and it was uncomfortable. I took a few deeper breaths. With the sound of Master's chilling laughter brushing past my ears, I calmed myself.

Told my body to be still.

And when I next opened my eyes, the agonised shriek from Kai no longer affected me at all.

Master glanced up at me, smile baneful as ever. "The antidote is within you, child," he said, clenching his fists.

"The antidote is within me and I within it," I droned, subconsciously placing my hands together in front of my chest, leaving a small space between them. A small, simple hourglass materialised in mid-air, the sand inside replaced by a substance that looked too thick and too green to be blood.

At the same time, the thin cloth of my ninja suit slowly morphed into that of a silver dress, the sleeves puffy and the bottom frilly, like the dresses princesses and dolls would wear.

Master smiled. "Perfect," he whispered, raising his open palm towards me. "But needs something else,"

There was a burst of light, a sharp, painless stab into my chest, and I was thrown back forcefully onto the heated rock, the chair turning to ash. The oxygen mask did not fall off. Eyes sliding open, I observed that two things had changed. The hourglass I once had within my hands was now embedded into my dress like how something would fit into an indentation. I touched it wordlessly, though my heart had no reaction, I was drawn to the phenomenon.

Secondly, the red markings all over Kai's right side pulsated brightly in unison with the ones on Master's left side. He was still sprawled on the ground, weakly gazing at me, eyelids fluttering over his discoloured orbs. The chains around his broken wrists clinked as he struggled to push himself onto his elbows. Red, grey, black were no more.

Just grey.

I saw it now.

Master smiled again.

The whites of his eyes faded to the ashen colour, while his pupils gained in their crimson shade.

I was the colour of evil.


	16. I Will Obey

_~Jay~_

Well, Zane had said the volcano had been rebuilt...

But he didn't specify that it was this warm.

I took in the view of the Fire Temple, feeling sweat beginning to soak through my ninja hood. It looked the same, with its Japanese-style roof and exterior, the red-slathered walls and pillars, the circular thing near the centre, and the few steps leading up to the temple itself. The bridge stretched across the smoldering moat of magma before me had its old grey tint to it.

But, honestly, it had to be about fifty degrees warmer than last time. If I was this affected I didn't know how Zane was still standing. Maybe his nindroid-ness helped him or something.

From behind me, the Ultra Dragon whined uncomfortably. Lloyd stroked its snout pitifully. "Stay a bit further boy. You could burn to death here."

"No kidding," I added, glancing over at the others to see how they were doing. Oddly they seemed okay. Cole had a black walkie-talkie clutched in his palm, his bronze stare fixated on the huge volcano the Fire Temple stood before, and I could practically see the gears in his head turn. He seemed to be taking the heat well. Probably thinking of how to ambush Kai...or Not-Kai...

Zane was eying the burnt grass beneath our feet with seemingly great interest. Except that his eyes were half-lidded. Upon closer scrutinisation I saw that faint, snowy gas was spilling out from under his sleeves, where his joints were. The smoke vanished just as quickly as it came, evaporating into the steaming air around us.

As for myself, I was quite jumpy. My heart wouldn't stop tossing and turning, my palms were sweating, hands were shaking, and feeling like I was being baked wasn't helping. I couldn't describe it but...Not-Kai was so strange. Well, of course you'd already know that, but to me he wasn't just another bad impostor. There was something about him that made me especially uneasy. I hadn't recalled ever being so nervous before.

And I didn't know why.

I told myself not to think about it. _Panicking won't help_, I repeated endlessly in my mind. _Panicking won't help._

From above, the Bounty hovered in the burnt reddish sky, its brown figure like a stain in the air. I knew Nya was onboard, surveying the huge volcano from above. "The temperature in there's about forty degrees Celsius," she reported stoically over Cole's walkie-talkie.

"Alright, thanks," the earth ninja nodded and slipped the gadget into his pocket. His gaze shifted to the rest of us. "Ready to go in guys?"

Zane looked up and nodded, with Lloyd and me mirroring him. Our leader gave a grim but satisfied smile before he sped swiftly across the ashen stone. Our footsteps were light and quiet on the hot rock as we crossed the magma moat and entered the Fire Temple.

Heat radiating off my skin, I trailed after the others along the brown upper ledge of the volcano. We'd crossed the temple part of the place and entered the volcano part in less than a few seconds. A strained silence hung in the air, interrupted only by the bubbling of hot melted rock down below.

Cole motioned for us to get down. I pushed my toes into a thin crevice in the ledge, positioned my hands on the edge and looked down. The world seemed to spin for a split second before my gaze focused on a few figures in the middle of the room.

My stomach lurched for a second and at first I thought I was gonna throw up. Then the feeling suddenly disappeared.

I blinked and stared again at the central slab of crimson-tinted rock. A girl knelt in front of another figure, a boy. Her dark grey dress flowed out around her in a near-perfect circle, completely hiding her legs from view. Her hair was short and a light tawny shade, with a light coal-coloured object in it. There was something pulsating on her chest but I couldn't see it properly. The boy in front of her lay stiffly on the ground, facing upwards. His hands rested limply beside his ears, wrists connected over his eyes by a metal chain. One side of his body seemed to pulse red.

My heart thrust itself abruptly against the warm rock.

Kai and Naoko...

I peeled my gaze off them and observed the rest of the volcano. Many smaller, redder slabs of rock surrounded the middle one, floating in the orange molten liquid underneath. A few metres away from the central piece, there was another part of the volcano I hadn't seen before. It was like a small tunnel, with a dark door-shaped opening. I raised my scarred eyebrow and glanced at Cole. He returned it with a deep brown stare that told me to move.

I nodded and pushed myself up soundlessly. Beside me, Zane took the hint and did the same, leading Lloyd as well.

I followed Cole along the ledge, padding silently across the heated rock. The same uncomfortable feeling seemed to churn in my tummy and I had to force myself not to groan. It wasn't exactly pain however—it was like...I don't know, well, simply imagine somebody trying to force what you hadn't eaten back up your throat.

We slipped down the slightly narrow walkway to another area, getting closer to the two in the middle as we did.

We were almost to the the lava pits when I suddenly felt my chest burn. From the heat and from my nerves. I couldn't breathe properly, oh man, my chest was _tight_. My knees buckled and I hit the floor, the gravel in the rock digging into my palms.

The next thing I knew, I involuntarily let out this loud-as-hell choking sound. It scared Cole, it scared Lloyd, it scared me. And in the next minute, the tightness vanished, letting the smoky air rush into my lungs. My stomach stopped twisting.

Dazed and tired, I shakily remained on all fours, the ground blurred under my body, and my eyes watering. Sweat trickled down from under my hair and fell like rain, evaporating into nothing as soon as it came into contact with the ledge. Zane and Lloyd's presences lingered cautiously behind me, like they didn't know whether to run to or away from me. Cole's was in front. My heart hurt. I had completely but unintentionally blew our cover. Blew. It.

Why did this keep happening to me?

"She's not looking at us," Lloyd whispered, a certain edginess and fright laced into his speech. "Did she hear?"

I forced my head back to look at those two figures again. Sure enough, Naoko hadn't moved a muscle. Kai hadn't either, it seemed.

But I couldn't hold myself back as my abdomen flipped violently and disgusting, searing substance poured out of my mouth, practically setting my throat on fire, as if doing so to my chest wasn't enough. I retched all over the freakin' rock, and by the time it stopped coming, I could barely stay on my knees.

"Jay!" Cole gasped and touched my back. His hand was _freezing_ against my body.

Crap.

I swiped the vomit that clung to my lower lip away wearily and leaned backward, subconsciously scooting away from my original position and pressing myself against the heated wall. I dizzily stared up at the opening of the volcano, the sky blending in with the physical feature. Zane and Cole's anxious figures crept into the corners of my vision.

"Jay?" Zane tried quietly, desperation slithering into his tone. "_Jay?_"

"Yeah," I answered breathlessly, turning my gaze to meet his icy blue one. "I-I'm okay."

"You gotta be kidding me," Cole whispered, bending down beside me. His features were flooded with worry and disbelief and fear and so many things that I didn't bother to keep track. "You just puked a waterfall down the ledge,"

"You...think I don't know that?" I gasped, tilting my head down and holding my head in my hands. "Cr-Crud guys, I-I'm sorry..."

"Shush," the midnight-haired said quickly, feeling my neck area. His fingertips were ice on my unreasonably hot and sweaty skin, and it didn't feel very good at that. I shifted away from his touch, but he didn't need any more proof that I was melting here.

"What's going on?" he asked, looking straight at me, eyes narrowed. I knew that was his dissatisfied, annoyed, leader face. It was the same one he'd had when Kai ditched Zane...how long ago? I realised I couldn't remember.

"I really don't know," I replied Cole hesitantly. It was the truth though. I had no idea what was happening to me. "Don't know,"

"You'll know soon," an icy, but deadly familiar voice told us.

I nearly detonated. We all looked north-west to see another red-clad guy emerging from the dark, unseen cave. The sight of him made me feel faint.

He had whatever Kai was wearing but in better condition. As in, they weren't completely shredded. He had the same spiked brown hair, the same weird red lines hugging his left arm, the same one that sliced through his left eye...

And I have no idea how, but somewhere in that eye I saw flames brighter than I'd ever seen.

They were Kai's flames.

_~Lloyd~_

Dumfounded, my gaze flickered between the three figures.

Naoko, Kai and...Kai.

The first Kai, who stood pretty confidently, smirked banefully. "It's happening to him now. That's perfect." he murmured, decidedly satisfied.

"You did something to him, didn't you," Cole said, trying to keep his voice even. However, his growl was still prominent as his right hand floated back towards the handle of his scythe.

"Maybe,"

_Don't play games with us,_ I thought irritably. Jay was making me really nervous. What was happening to him? What was happening to _us_?

Zane stepped forward to stand in front of Jay, his gloved fingers brushing against the edges of those silver shurikens. Wishing I had a weapon of my own, I simply tensed my body to fight and stood mutely by my lightning brother.

The lava surrounding the chunks of rock bubbled furiously as the standing boy walked casually towards us, his bare feet making next to no noise against the burning ground. I heard the other Kai gave a weak moan and snapped my head up. I'd heard that sound before on numerous occasions. And I didn't like it.

"Don't come closer, you're hurting him!" I yelled defensively, feeling the power surge in my wrists. The opposition's sadistic smile made me shiver, the last thing I thought I would do in a place like this.

"I know that," he said, taking another step forward. "I know that full well."

The lava behind him skyrocketed about a metre in the sky before falling down again. Kai's face contorted with pain. I saw the blood all over his knees, his hands, his arms, his face...

Then Naoko suddenly stood up and turned to face us. My amethyst orbs widened at the sight of her.

The whole lower part of her face was a sheen grey, reaching just under her eyes like an intangible mask. It spread down across her neck, under the frilly collar of her dress and over her arms up to her elbows. The hourglass carved into her chest was filled with thick, gooey dark reddish green substance. I think I saw dried blood on the edges of the hourglass.

But what was really creepy was that her usually subtle grey eyes were now grey and glowing brightly under her bangs.

My heart pounded against my ribcage so quickly I knew it was going to shatter soon enough.

I stole a glance back at Jay, who had gone silent. Cold sweat coated my neck as I observed the random, unexplainable rips in the sleeves and pants of his ninja suit. How had those gotten there?

His forest green pupils had faded to that sickly ashen colour. It crawled halfway up his throat, and like Naoko, it went down his arms all the way to his wrists. His thighs had been splashed silver, and I guessed his torso had been that much greyed out too...

This wasn't good.

The one who stood stopped in his tracks, bemused gaze discreetly fixed on our lightning brother. He made a rising motion with his arm. I watched in horror and utter disbelief as Jay stood up, eyelids falling droopily over half of his eyes and arms to his sides.

"I will obey,"

**Okay now that that's over...**

**OMGOMGOMG GUYS I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY.**

**I completely left you hanging there like that the last chapter! ;A; My deepest apologies! I seriously had no time to write, with all the shat happening around me like school and coursework -.-**

**So there's a slightly longer chapter for you guys. I hope you forgive me. I took like a month to update! Well I hope this doesn't happen again...**

**Okay! Well now it's clearing up questions time!**

**MusicOrangeNinja: Hi! Sure you can, just give me permission :)**

**GildedCannonBall: Nah it's totally fine. :) I'm sorry for being a derp lol. Hope you enjoyed this chapter ^^**

**Okay. Only two things but oh well xD **

**Hope you enjoyed, sorry for the delay, and please remember to leave a review :) Stay epic and have a good day/night!**


	17. Reminiscence

**AGH YAY! I finally updated! :D yeah since I've just spent my whole evening not doing my homework and completing this, I hope you enjoy! Reviews are well-appreciated ^^ it's OVAR 9000! Nah I'm just kidding. Just 150. I can't thank you guys enough. Stay cool guys, and please enjoy.**

_~Cole~_

I had had just about enough of this friend-turning-evil crap. Time to slay the beast.

My fingers enclosed around the handle of my scythe, but I didn't pull it out of its holder just yet. Jay walked forward, the only thing moving in the volcano. Kai smiled and pulled an oxygen mask out of complete nothingness, mutely handing it to Jay. And I honestly hadn't noticed until now, but Naoko had one as well. Or had that just appeared there?

_Dang, who cares? Just take this guy out._

Jay strapped the mask on with a smile, which could be plainly seen even underneath. His hollow orbs narrowed, but he didn't say anything. My wide, ecru gaze followed surprisingly attentively as his ninja suit slowly vanished from the head down, blue fabric and silver armour disappearing into a mousy oyster grey suit that could have been paired with the infected half-Japanese girl at his side. It was one of those fancy suits, just that everything was plain grey, albeit the white long-sleeved undershirt that peeked through his clothes under the steely tie tucked into Jay's vest.

It was Naoko who next spoke. "Shall we take them, Master?" Her voice was slightly muffled from the oxygen mask, but it was drained, like the life had been sucked out and spat into the lava only to disintegrate into nothing. It was so empty, so flat, so impassive...

Kai snapped his fingers. "Yeah,"

If it hadn't already been so, Jay's stare turned sour as he glared at us. He pulled out his nunchaku. "Thanks Master, and don't worry, we can take these guys," he sneered confidently, weapon swinging in his hands.

Kai raised an unscarred eyebrow. "He's not fully taken yet. Oh well, more fun that way."

What did he mean?

Jay made the first move, bringing his nunchaku down onto my skull. I sidestepped swiftly and elbowed him in the side of his ribcage. The idea of using my scythe was now abandoned; I mean, you couldn't expect me to actually hit them, could you? Sure they were infected with whatever sin Kai had poisoned them with—but still. They could not help it.

One thing I didn't understand was why Naoko was acting like Zane before his funny switch, while Jay still retained his sense of...uh, Jay-ness. If Kai had the power to turn two elemental ninja into nefarious grey puppets, he could have at least done it right.

Jay fell onto his side, but pushed himself up with his hands and quickly stretched his leg out. His foot collided upwards with my chin, nearly tipping me off balance. I regained my footing and rubbed it, glaring at Jay. "Smart," I growled.

The lightning ninja chuckled. "Thank you very much!" he said, position on the ground like that of a frog's. With spring-like movements, he thrust his fist at my face. I instantaneously raised my hand to block it, and couldn't help smirking. I grabbed Jay's arms and overturned him onto the burning lava rocks, not too hard, but hopefully hard enough to stun him. He snapped at me with an animalistic growl and sent a burst of electricity straight into my chest. A blinding sensation of pain exploded from my chest before it went numb and my body loosened. I hit the floor, but I forced myself back up again. There was no way I was going to let Jay win. I mean, come on, I was so much better than him. Right?

I dodged the next punch and swerved to avoid a nunchaku smack in the face. I swung my foot upwards into Jay's crotch, hitting him right in the unmentionables. "Sorry!" I said quickly, watching as he crumpled to the ground, pain flooding his greyed out features. He owed me one. But later.

Now, I had a few seconds to decide what the hell to do now.

Naoko was keeping herself busy with Zane and Lloyd. The two were throwing everything they had at her—even literally—but she was just too fast. Her body was like a hologram, flitting past each blade and fist like a glitchy character. I really wanted to help, but I couldn't leave Jay here. He was an enemy and if he had been a regular snake, I would have crushed him like sparrow's egg between thighs. But he was still Jay. And the way he fought kept making me think it was actually just my lightning brother in a really bad mood trying to kill me. And...

...I'd already pretty much destroyed whatever kind of relationship I'd had with Kai. And I hadn't even been trying to.

I needed to think fast. Jay was already sitting up, and all I had been doing was stand here debating. I kept my cool and my boots on the warm rock, but took a step backward. My opponent's steeled gaze was locked on mine, and he was breathing so loudly and slowly through that mask that it seemed to thunder in my ears. It was creepy.

"_Damn_ you, Cole."

His fist collided with my neck and I gritted my teeth as another surge of electric throttled my bones, sending pain blossoming from my esophagus and flowering out across my nerves. There was this weird gurgling cum choking noise that came from my mouth and I felt my feet leave the rock, even if by a couple centimetres. Jay's wicked grin flashed before my flickering vision, and I had never before seen his eyes so alive with the sheen shade. His smile, however evil, was still reminiscent of those times he reigned victorious in our sparring matches, against the serpentine, or even on Super Smash Brothers Brawl...

The searing halted and I collapsed onto the warm rock, fingers digging into the rough surface. My ebony hair, slightly teased up by the lightning, fell over my eyes like a sweaty curtain. My arms trembled numbly, hell, my whole body was on fire. My breath came in irregular rhythms, but I lifted my head feebly. Jay's swung his nunchaku over his shoulder, chuckling quietly. He bent over to bring his face closer to mine, and I saw that the grey had consumed the bottom half of his face now. Dang it, it was freaky. His eyes were narrowed into mischievous slits.

"Not so tough now, are ya Rocky?"

Faster than I could see, subtle white robes brushed past him, delivering a hard punch to his face. Jay tumbled backward, letting out a cry of surprise and pain. His body contorted to protect his mask. Those familiar cold arms pulled me onto my shaky feet, and I gazed sideways at my ice brother, forever the saviour. His pale blue irises met mine in a helpful gaze, but in a split second he was back at Lloyd's side, flinging his shuriken at the blurred grey figure jumping between them. It was hard to tell how much of Naoko's original personality had been practically eliminated. All I knew was, it was a lot. If she'd been a bad guy but kept her clumsiness, slight cowardice and hesitation, she'd probably have been floored by those two minutes ago. But it wasn't so.

Jay violently yanked my distracted self to his body, forcing my electrified mind back into action. My first reaction was to struggle, but he had a vice-like grip around my neck. I was surprised that he hadn't taken me down with a jolt of lightning or the snap of my neck. He was just standing there, teeth clenched fiercely, hands positioned threateningly. The oxygen mask was pressed against my hair, and heat radiated from his seemingly stone cold body. His heart was ricocheting off his chest. I could feel it. I swallowed uncertainly, black-clothed fingers still curled tightly around Jay's arm.

He was hesitating.

Now was my chance.

I abruptly thrust my leg backwards in a rear kick, causing him to stumble backward. I was dizzy, but I had to focus. While Jay was still down I hurriedly lifted my foot and stomped down hard, making the whole platform shake and bobble in the lava. I watched the ground secure itself over his wrists and ankles. And I'll have to admit, it was hilarious watching him kick and thrash against the impenetrable molten stuff like a kid throwing a tantrum. He glared at me with such hatred I nearly shuddered. Key word being nearly.

I was about certain expletives were going to come spewing out of the guy's mouth, but he had stopped and simply lay there. I walked over and gazed down casually at him. "How's the view from down there?" I mocked, allowing a grin to play on my lips.

"Awesome," Jay hissed back, fury clearly tormenting him. Sweat matted his bangs to his forehead. His voice reminded me of the time I had done this exact same thing to him by accident. At the beach. That time, I'd practically glued him to his towel by his stomach. He'd said the exact same thing. I smiled deviously down at him. He'd have to deal with it for now, until this evil that had completely ruined our lives was stopped.

Yeah, I'd thought we had won.

Then I heard the crash above the volcano and snapped my head up just in time to see the Bounty crashing its way through the mouth of the burning mountain, falling to pieces and disintegrating into nothing right before our eyes.

**What happened you ask? Well just gotta wait and find out! Next chapter's gonna be Nya-centered because I don't show that badass girl enough love. XD**


	18. A Risk Not Taken

**Yay update. Hope you're happy, guest(s). Oh well. Flamers gonna flame.**

_~Nya~_

My fingers were light and swift on the keyboard. I dipped my finger onto the Enter button, and a green model of the Fire Temple appeared beside a bunch of digitalized text.

"The temperature in there's about forty degrees Celsius," I reported over the walkie-talkie clutched firmly in my right palm, eyes skimming over the overall scan I'd done on the Fire Temple. That was hotter than last time by quite a few degrees. It didn't surprise me much though; this volcano had been known to reach temperatures of up to over fifty degrees.

"Alright, thanks," Cole's voice crackled over the small device briefly before he shut it off. I returned the screen to show the guys' positions outside the temple, where they soon left to speed into said area a few seconds after Cole had dropped the line. I chewed my lip moodily, zooming in slightly on Jay. I was hoping that they wouldn't burn to death in there or get heatstroke or whatever. Things were bad enough as it was.

I sighed and broke away from the control panel, a sense of loneliness tugging at my heart. I never really got to go on missions like these, even if this was to find out what in Ninjago was going on with Kai. It was so blatant now, how had I not noticed it earlier? Either my brother had really willingly turned to the dark side, something had possessed him, or there was somebody trying to pass off as him. Any way didn't mean good for us. These past few week he had been just really...calm. Not blowing up at everybody. You could call it a miracle, but to me it was odd. It just wasn't him. Cole's scolding couldn't have been enough to make Kai a completely new person. I missed that hotheaded, egoistic, yet lovable brother of mine.

Sure, it wouldn't hurt if he was just a little less impulsive and arrogant. And maybe if he didn't have such an inflated ego. That confident smirk had still remained on his face though. It was just weird.

I slid my hands aimlessly along the wooden wall, passing the helm as I paced quietly. Sensei Wu remained at the oversized computer screen, gaze still locked on the figures running across the screen. It cast a bluish green glow across his aged face, half of which was concealed by his long, pure white beard. His hand, veins clearly visible on his skin, was lightly clenched around his staff. aIt was hard to tell what the old man was thinking about. I thought back to the day Sensei had first came to our small blacksmith shop.

_"This shop is called Four Weapons, not For Browsing. Either buy something or go peddle your insults somewhere else."_

With my gentle touch remaining on the wood, I stopped and glanced over at the screen. The blue figure was on his knees, with an unknown substance spewing out of his mouth. The others were gathered around him. My eyes widened to the sizes of plates. "What's happening to Jay?" I asked, fear beginning to crawl into my heart. Sensei didn't turn around, but I saw the dread in his dark, thin eyes.

"The same thing that happened to Naoko," he stated, "Poisoned by evil."

I dug my fingernails into the coarse material. This couldn't be happening. Not again. There was no way I was going to let this happen to anybody else. The insatiable urge to ditch the ship and run into the volcano to help my family was unbearable. However, I couldn't leave Sensei here either. He was family too. Sure, he was a master of Spinjitzu and he could take care of himself, but what if he couldn't?

_So what am I supposed to do? _My mouth fell open as I watched the cerulean figure fade to pale grey, seemingly incognito. My heart jumped and I neared the screen, anxiety climbing higher and higher within my chest. Scrutinising the screen a little closer, I spotted the one red figure lying in the center. That was Kai, but what the heck was he doing? This needed an explanation I didn't think even Sensei could give. The coloured figures were now scattered, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed another scarlet signature slip away into the unseen areas of the volcano.

Suddenly, the lights above us flickered like dying fireflies for a moment before darkness seemed to swallow us. Not even the huge screen glowed its usual lime shade. Everything was simply black. Confused, my hands flew to the controls and I hurriedly began typing to see if anything worked. Nothing. "Sensei?" I asked tentatively, feeling the handle of the knife slid into my belt. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine, Nya," came his calm, but alert voice. Still, the slight strain was there. I felt him edge towards me. Blinking, my eyes adjusted and my gaze flickered from side to side warily. The only dark mahogany light came from the big window near the helm, tinting the room with red. It should have helped, but it didn't. The helm had no shadow whatsoever. Swallowing a nervous lump in my throat, I withdrew my weapon. A odd chill settled over the room, but I knew not to show weakness. "Come out and show yourself, you coward!" I hissed.

A pair of mismatched eyes slid open in the shadows. The right grey one glistened transparently, while the left red-black one was strong in colour. A sparkling crimson gash struck right down perfectly through the pupil. I noticed the strange red markings hovering in mid-darkness, crisscrossing over one another. It looked like half a glowing red person standing there. My grip tightened around the handle of my blade. The presence seemed to zip towards me, lingering in front of me, way too close for comfort. I immediately thrust the knife forward.

Nothing.

"NinjaGO!" Sensei yelled, forming his signature golden tornado and throwing himself at our enemy just as cool hands encircled my neck. The feeling of skin slashing forcefully over skin made itself apparent on my throat as I stood rooted to the spot. The Bounty shook wildly as the force of rushed footsteps made the floor tremble. I nearly lost my footing as the entire ship seemed to tilt onto its side. In mid-air. A few loud thumping noises made my head snap to the sides wildly. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from.

"Sensei!" I shrieked, dismay stabbing at my heart. Those thumps sounded like they hurt. The computer sparked in the blackness, and I struggled to maintain balance. Suddenly, my heart bubbled into my throat, and I blanched. The large wooden vessel made an odd creaking noise, something burst, and it swayed wildly. Oh my Overlord, we were falling. The feeling of free-fall made my body tingle with panic. If the impact of the crash didn't kill Sensei and me, the falling debris probably would. It was a die-or-die situation. I fought to retain collectedness, but my heart wouldn't allow it. I didn't know where Sensei was, I didn't know where that thing was, and we were right above a volcano spiking at 40 freaking degrees.

The knife under my hands slipped, and time seemed to slow as I helplessly watched it tumble downwards, extremely near my body. I don't know how I did it, but I caught a glimpse of my horrified face in the stainless steel blade.

My impossibly wide eyes, once a pure onyx colour, were now that of the thing's.

Terribly stinging pain wracked my nerves as the tip of the knife sliced down my right thigh, splitting the fabric of my black tights. I screamed before I could stop it and seemed to shoot towards the floor along with the breaking bits of the floating ship we used to call home. With tears blurring my dimmed vision, I gripped the wound, teeth clenched. The burning was unbearable. I knew we were getting closer to the edge and closed my eyes. Accepting fate...well, I guess it was the only choice I had. _I'm sorry Sensei, for not being able to save you, I'm sorry Kai for not being able to say goodbye, I'm sorry Jay for letting you fall into the clutches of evil..._

In a split second, I felt warm arms enclose around my shoulders before the hot air outside enveloped me. Eyes flying open, I reflexively clutched the red-clad figure who had grabbed me, heart palpitating against my ribcage. The lighted-ness of floating made me disoriented, but the searing pain still danced upon the gash on my leg, bringing me back to the present. I glanced up at my saviour, only to have my throbbing heart sink into my stomach.

It was him, the thing-or the _boy_, as I now saw. He had brown spiky hair peeking out from under a dark grey hood, that pair of thinly slit imbalanced eyes, those weird deep red markings that hugged his limbs. He wore a blood red T-shirt, the fabric soft against my shaking body.

I would have believed he was Kai, but that notch in his eyebrow was absent. His body felt awfully familiar, but yet there was something I didn't recognise. His smile was different, a bit too lopsided.

And that's why I took a risk, and punched him in the face.

**Oh yeah. I'm sorry to that one guest who said she's half Japanese and doesn't enjoy my use of said language in this story. If you want I could erase all evidence of Japanese in this, maybe even Naoko's half-Japanese trait. Yeah cuz I'm like that, I don't like to live with people thinking I'm a freaking female dog. **


	19. Conflict

**IMPORTANT: Go back and read the previous chapters before reading any of this. Trust me, I changed a few things and added stuff so my ideas won't sound outrageous. Which they are. Sorry. I'm bad at plotlines. /rolls off the edge of space.**

**Okay so...my writing may be a little hard to read here and a tad confusing. My apologies. If there's anything you guys don't understand, feel free to PM me. c: next chapter should be up within the next week, and if it isn't, you can throw stones at me.**

_~EK~_

My smirk was lifted.

I immediately dodged, but felt her knuckles connect with my cheek in a painful explosion. I nearly dropped her, but I tightened my grip on her body as she squirmed, throwing punches at me whenever available. My cloak sailed through the air behind me. I dodged them all, and if any hit me, I didn't feel much anyway. In the background, the sound of wooden planks snapping, things burning, and somebody screaming acted as pure white noise.

The power and energy that had came from _him_ was enormous. I'd been kinda surprised myself. Kai had been a moody, angry child. Always run-down and frustrated. Never expected that within him was such strength and courage. Mixed with my own, I felt like a million bucks. On the outside, anyway.

Nya growled and grabbed at my shirt. "Let me go, freak!" she yelped, face flushing from climbing desperation and chagrin. I avoided a slap to the face and grabbed her neck with one hand, not too tightly, but it was enough to shut her up. Her silver eyes bore into mine, wide as saucers. I felt sweat trickle down my fingers. Heh. I missed those big black holes she had for irises. Too bad I guess. The price to pay for awesomeness.

"It's not nice to call your brother a freak," I whispered, baneful smile reappearing across my lips. "Especially your older one."

"What?" The word came out barely a whisper. "What did you say, idiot?"

Her hands grabbed at mine, trying to peel my fingers from her neck. I chuckled, feeling the power swell within me once again. Her fear fueled me, just as her brother's suffering did.

Excuse me. My brother. Our brother. Whatever.

I bet you're all thinking, what the hell is this psycho going on about? He's been killing everyone, I have no mind to listen to one of his sad and dreary explanations! I want the ninja to rip his face off already! Being Kai and Nya's sibling is evidently impossible!

Too bad. You'll hear it eventually. Not now though. But eventually.

"That's not true." Nya's voice was shaky. "You are not Kai."

"That much is true, but I am still your brother." I returned with confidence.

"We don't have another freaking brother."

"That's what you think."

I took a dive down through the vent of the volcano. Heat welcomed us, rubbing at my fiery skin. Nya didn't make a sound. My bare feet touched the hot rocks, cloak settling against my back.

Three voices erupted as one.

"Nya!"

I dropped her. The red-clad girl sped towards the nearest guy—the blond kid in a green keikogi. Lloyd Garmadon. I'd heard and seen much about him. I swiftly glanced around. The scene had changed a little since I left. Jay was being held back by Cole, a guy sporting black. Lloyd had been crumpled on the floor, rubbing his head, while white and grey blurs had been practically at each other's throats on the ground.

In the center, Kai was now sitting up, staring into nothing. The markings on his limbs pulsated fiercely. He now clutched at his throat. The scream from earlier on had been his.

"Where the hell did you go?" Cole roared, pointing an accusing finger at me. "To get new clothes?" He was referring to my cloak. A vein on his neck bulged and fury lunged at me through his voice. In his grasp, Jay looked furious. I knew the virus was still spreading underneath his skin slowly. Soon he'd be gone for good, though he'd be more unstable than the Japanese beauty. I simply shrugged and laughed under my breath. This was gonna be fun.

"You broke our ship," Lloyd whispered, arms in autopilot, curled around Nya's torso quietly. His amethyst gaze was shattering. "Destroyed our home." His voice quavered.

"Not like I give a damn," I replied evenly, shaking the hood off my head to reveal the brown, pointed spikes of my hair. The language rolled off my tongue with graceful force. "Watashi wa ki ni shimasen."

Jay took this silent opportunity to backhand Cole, setting himself free before scampering to my side. His mask made his breathing audible to nearly everyone in the room. Rushed and heavy. Soon. Naoko took the hint and zipped to my other side, not even casting a glance at Kai. Unlike Jay, her breathing was silent through the gas mask.

For a moment everybody glared at somebody. Most of my opponents glared at me, but only Nya stared at Jay. Kai's dead gaze had shifted from space to Naoko's bare feet. I noticed silver peeking out from under the back of Nya's dress, inching its way over her pale skin. Awesome. Another transformation taking place.

Cole's muscles stiffened. He was ready for battle. His gloved hand tightened around the handle of his scythe. Lloyd's gaze had turned from dismay to bitter. Green sparks swirled around his fingertips. Zane's eyes were fixed directly on me, shurikens ready to be hurled.

"Go on," I challenged, "kill me."

_**"STOP!"**_

The sudden explosion from Kai startled even myself. The tension in the air froze in place. My mismatched gaze flickered towards him. He'd turned in a three-sixty to face his "friends", but still sat, unable to rise. Too weak, yet he could still scream so loudly.

I watched everyone's attention focus on my brother. It was his turn to speak now.

I closed my eyes and waited.

_~Kai~_

Images flooded my brain, crystal clear and painful to watch. I didn't know why, but it hurt to see them.

My frantic outburst had put all eyes on me. I think. Quite sure. It had left my throat blazing and my eyes watering. I...I couldn't feel the ground under my hands though. Couldn't get a grip on the world. It still spun around me, mocking, laughing at my failure. The shrieks had finally stopped, but now I faced the shouts of...them. Couldn't remember their names. Really couldn't think. Best to just talk. I drew in a very shaky, very slow breath. Though seemingly closed off from the outside world, each damage he had done to my interior was like a double-edged sword stuck into my body, twisting slowly in circles. Ouch. Not a good feeling. I had to take this slow.

Still, something was rattling me. Telling me to kill everything in sight with a huge epic explosion. But that would kill me too. Frankly, I didn't care. Death could take me as it wished. But there was still something here keeping me alive, and I didn't know what it was. And it hurt.

The point was I had to defend him.

I'd die later.

_~Jay~_

There are a few things that you should know when turning evil.

The feeling of dirty power overtaking your body hurts a TON. And you wonder why people shiver and groan and cry out when something grabs them and shoves evil down their throat. Another thing is that once you get past that feeling, it's like all emotion seems to pause, except for greed and in my case, confidence. Everything goes grey, but the ones on your side are coloured. It's cool as hell. Then there's that little bit of thing at the back of your mind called hope. Telling you you don't belong in the land of evil. With the dudes beside you. That you weren't born this way. You were never meant to be this way.

And you don't care because it feels good. Unless you can't feel anything. Ask Naoko what goes on in that head of hers. She's the emotionless one. Apparently, I'm supposed to be emotionless too. But something got messed up and here I am, feeling the rich filth of bad intent course through my veins and experiencing every freaking second of it. And liking it.

I didn't meet _her_ eyes. I couldn't and wouldn't and shouldn't. _She's no good for you. _He said that. I'm his apprentice now, I'll do whatever he says. Sure. He's my Master now. Saved me from that pain I felt an hour ago. The vomiting and all. Bad stuff, he brought me out. Us out. Yeah. I think. Yet, her gaze tugged at my cold heart, and I couldn't disregard it. Her presence made me shake. But the evil was in control now and I had no place in this.

A dizzy spell struck and I struggled to maintain my balance. Nobody noticed though, except for Master. Everyone still stared at Kai, waiting for him to speak. His fire was gonna go out any minute now. Master hadn't told me about the consequences yet.

Feeling the last of the grey clouds roll over my back, I was now completely doused in grey matter. My breathing slowed and quietened. But now my emotions were stronger than ever. I felt what everyone did. _Anxiety_. _Frustration_. _Fear_. A smidgeon of _joy_. Too many feelings. I shot a quick glance at Naoko. Her dress blended in with her sickly steel skin. I now sported a silver blazer, red tie and grey pants. _Pride._

Electrical energy sparked in my hands and I needed some outlet of some kind, any kind, or I was gonna explode. I snatched my nunchaku off the ground, the metal absorbing what excess power I had. Clenching and unclenching my fist, I smiled.

Couldn't wait to kick some asses.


	20. Well Isn't That Precious?

**Oh my goodness guys I am SO SORRY for the wait, but here it is! And I am really excited! :D**

**...**

**On second thought, I think my writing kinda went a little downhill for this chapter. AND IT'S A CRUCIAL CHAPTER. What are you _doing_, Waffle? But anyway, it's here! And that's a crucial fact too! This chapter is completely from Lloyd's POV. And yup. I guess that's all I have to say. I have a feeling I'm missing something but...oh well.**

_~Lloyd~_

My heart threatened to puncture my ribs. It was pumping so rapidly I didn't think I was going to be surprised if it suddenly burst out and my guts spilled out all over Nya.

My wary gaze lingered on Kai. He fingered the handcuffs with bandaged hands, eyes staring straight back at me with the most unreadable expression ever. Tears trickled down his left cheek, the silver eye glassy. The other eye was now completely red, and had the illuminated red line down through his eye, like a tattoo. Dark rims hung under them. He was dressed in a ripped, dirty red shirt and torn grey shorts, under which I noticed the markings on his pale skin glimmering. Various medical dressings adorned his limbs. I struggled to keep my feelings together. I wanted to run up to him and crush him in the biggest hug ever. But he was bleeding and so weak I was afraid he would simply pass out or something if I even took a step forward.

"Kai," Nya whisper-shouted. "We don't have another brother, do we?" Her fingers grabbed the fabric of my uwagi into bunches.

Brother? What?

Kai gritted his teeth. He spoke.

"W-We do."

His voice was grainy and forced, coated with pain. I'd never heard him this way before—in all honesty, it scared me. Opposite us, Jay picked up his nunchaku, which I hadn't noticed until them. I did a quiet double take. His tan skin had completely been replaced by shiny grey, like paint that was gonna take a while to remove. Fearing the worst, my gaze flicked to Naoko. She was completely grey too. Damn it. This always had to happen to us. Our friends, our allies turning evil. It was so so so annoying!

"Th-This guy, his name is EK—I mean Blair Igneous." His gaze bored into Nya. "He was my twin brother, not meant to have been born. Dad and Mom didn't expect two boys, but they took care of us anyway...then you came. Then—"

Kai's eyes squeezed shut and his hands flew to his temples, chafed breaths shaking his body. Nya was frozen in my hands, like a weeping angel. Tears streaked her face and I realised again that this was also the first time I'd seen Nya, the mighty Samurai X, so frail and upset. I didn't like it. She used to hold me like this all the time, comforting and supporting me while I sobbed away like the spoiled brat I used to be...now I was the one in her place. Not that I didn't enjoy comforting others, it was just...it felt weird.

Slowly, Kai put his hands down and glanced up at me this time. "Three years after Nya was born, Blair was kidnapped. His kidnapper was determined to escape without a trace, so he used memory-erasing products on us and our parents. H-He brought Blair to his house and tortured him...just as he'd done to me..." His volume plunged and soon he was down to incoherent mumbling. His fingers climbed back up the sides of his head.

Blair's eyes snapped open. His fiery irises were shrouded with ice. "First, he made me his stupid slave. He stuck a shock bracelet on me and said he would shock me if I didn't listen to him or tried to escape. I had to clean up all his damn messes and buy all his damn groceries. I rebelled a few times, but my dumb self was too afraid to do more after two shocks. One final day when I was nine, I rebelled for the first time in two years. Angry, he used a red ink pen and made those markings you see on Kai and I both today, but instead of just drawing or something, he stabbed the nib into my skin and I started bleeding," he continued as if casually telling a bedtime story, but in a bad mood. "And then he left me in a bathtub to just...die. People screaming and sirens wailing were the last things I heard. After which, I became a spirit. I went back to our house and tried to get your attention, Kai and Nya. I figured my siblings might recall something as you were the closest to me, closer than Mom and Dad were! But nobody noticed. I was gone from everybody's lives. And at the time, I didn't have any friends. Our family had next to no relatives. All evidence that this boy named Blair Igneous had ever existed was completely gone." The venom built up in his words, though his voice did not shake. There wasn't any sadness in his tone.

Bubbling lava was the only thing I heard in the brief period of deafening silence that followed. I swallowed. My throat was dry. So Blair was Kai's brother. He had been through all this crap. Were we supposed to forgive him now? Did people need reasons to torture others unfairly and break their families apart? But the thing that shook me most was that some crazy guy had grabbed a five-year-old and taken him from his family. And I'll be honest. I was really afraid that my dad had done it. But what were the odds anyway?

It did explain. But that didn't mean we had to forgive him. Nya was inhaling and exhaling shakily, her body warm in my arms. I wasn't sure whether to pull her closer to let her have some space, so I didn't move. I felt her heart throbbing within her chest, maybe even faster than mine.

"Why would you torture your own brother?" Zane questioned, innocent confusion in his voice. Yes, that question. "Why put somebody of your own flesh and blood through seemingly endless suffering?"

Blair's gaze darkened. The end of his mouth curled into a sick smile. "I'll be honest with you. I missed Kai a ton. I wanted to kill him and bring him down with me as a spirit so we could be together, but I guess that failed." He clenched and unclenched his fists. "I don't really know why I dragged it. And I'm not sure why I didn't go for Nya instead. But I was having fun, at least."

"You are a psycho," Cole breathed, "a dead, dangerous psycho,"

"Not surprising since I was killed by one," Unfazed, he rolled his eyes and stomped on the ground. Naoko, Jay, Kai and even Nya flinched horribly. Blair's eyes gleamed with rising excitement, and I gasped silently as we locked gazes for a split second. I recognised that childish sparkle under his creepy unmatching irises. I remembered when I'd once possessed that spirit, that immaturity. I identified with it in a way.

Forced to grow up too quickly in a world of destruction.

Then I heard Nya scream and suddenly my arms were coated with flames, sending searing pain down my skin and muscles. I felt myself get thrown back into Cole's chest, which kinda actually hurt. His arms curled under mine, and I struggled to regain my footing. I stared at Nya, my jaw slacking slowly the longer I stared. Her chest was heaving heavily and sweat beaded her temples, dripping onto the hot rocks as she pulled herself to her feet weakly. Her skin was grey too, as were her eyes.

Shit.

Cole hastily dragged me into the center with Zane. Our warm, sweaty bodies rubbed against each other as we huddled facing outwards, watching the grey figures advance on us. Jay, Naoko, Nya. Kai kept staring, tears still running down his cheeks, a demented smile twisting its way onto his face. Blair laughed coldly at us, and I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe Kai was too. We had been the root cause of this. Three of us left, untainted by evil. This could not be happening again. First the Great Devourer and now this stupid guy...

"You're just a coward behind all this," I said suddenly. "The biggest coward ever."

He stopped. Blair glared straight at me. For a moment that was all he did, simply stare at me with utter disgust like I was a fly in his soup. He was probably thinking of a witty comeback line. His eyes searched me, prodding at my mind for a weakness. I kept my cool, though I felt Cole nudge me in a slight flurry of unheard panic. I didn't respond, keeping my gaze as leveled as I possibly could.

"Lloyd Garmadon," Blair spat finally. "Little green loudmouth. You say I'm a coward, how about yourself? I've seen you before. You can't do nothing but hide behind my brother and everyone else." He stretched his arms out for emphasis.

I narrowed my eyes. "Then you haven't seen all of me. And by the way, you do the same too, if you haven't noticed yet."

Jay let out an very unexpected, very loud groan. "Can we FIGHT already, Master?" he whined in a bit too high-pitched voice, and I could tell that he was on the verge of exploding. He played his nunchaku between his fingers like a string and tapped his foot impatiently, his deep breaths restrained.

"Yes, I too would like to rid of them once and for all," Naoko spoke at last, her voice still carrying its familiar quietness to it, despite how empty and admittedly Zane-ish it sounded now. Her poker face seemed superglued on.

Nya simply nodded, rubbing her bright grey eyes. She was a little more disoriented, but a scowl had settled upon her pale silvery lips.

Blair laughed. "Let's get this show on the road!"

**Omigosh. Sorry again for the lameness of this chapter. GAH. I fail so badly. But next chapter will have more action! And some more insight on Kai and Blair and all that! And now you know all about EKG (nickname courtesy of TheComingOfEpic) and all his shit reasons for existing. xD**

**Nice reviews are all appreciated. Mean reviews will be glanced at and ignored. Constructive criticism will be taken to heart. And 2 REVIEWS TO 200 REVIEWS! THIS IS INSANE! asjshhdjdejejjf**

**LOVE YA GUYS, AND GOOD MORNING/NIGHT!**


	21. Itch

**Ermagersh an entire month passed whoops. I'm sorry. UnU anyway, this chapter opens with a short short third person POV, because I'm a sadist. Then it goes to dear Zane! I wish this is longer, but I'm tired and all. xD so hope you guys like. Please enjoy, and leave a review. Have an epic day/night. C:**

Why couldn't he move?

He didn't really feel the pain of his physical wounds, though most of them were open and bandaged carelessly by his brother. His skin was sticky and wet in various places. He hadn't eaten in days, but his stomach had not started eating itself yet. Obviously there was something wrong with him. There was always something wrong with him.

The annoying, sharp throbbing behind his eyes made him want to cry harder. He wasn't going to though. He didn't think he had the energy to, he didn't have the fluids in him to spare some trickling down his cheeks anymore. His hands were gripping either side of his head, sweat sandwiched between his knotted hair and his scratched, bloodstained palms. The pain jumped within his temples, like somebody was hitting the insides with a spiky club or something. He couldn't really see because of this, all he saw were blurred figures. He couldn't distinguish between his friends and his foes any more. They all looked the same to him.

He blinked again. The right half of his screwed-up vision had been obscured by a mix of red and black, but he had to admit he didn't, he really didn't care about that. The odd part was that the other side had been washed to pale grey, so everything looked old and in the past. Kai did not understand this.

He did not care.

Why couldn't he see properly?

His friends were somewhere there, weren't they? Fighting for him. _Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that. You can feel their anger, their hate all directed at you. They're fighting, maybe dying because of you. Pathetic. _For so long Kai had practically lived with a sign over his head which read, "hotheaded freak". Except that it had been visible to everybody but himself. _Look where it got you! You're alone, nobody wants you, even if they get you back, you're not gonna be able to survive, you're going to be completely useless, another hindrance to everyone..._

And then he realised that it wasn't his voice that said that, or his brother's. The voice was cruel, empty and cold.

_Your brother is not cruel, empty and cold._

"He is," said Kai, in a whisper even he could not hear. "The—most—cruel—"

His throat tightened immediately, and he ceased all thoughts as his arms reacted instinctively, peeling away from his pounding temples and attaching themselves around invisible hands around his neck. The handcuffs weighed down on his wrists, which were red with friction. His weakened lungs began to burn and his vision deteriorated rapidly, sending his eyes squeezed shut.

He was screaming, or so he hoped—

"Do not touch him!" somebody had yelled, and his airway burst open once again. Hot, polluted air rushed into his lungs and he made an awful choking noise as the bacteria caught in his throat.

Why couldn't he breathe right?

His fingers pressed into hot stone, and it hurt. He slid down further onto the ground, feeling raw. Somebody grabbed him. He pushed away, afraid that it was going to kill him. Somebody else's voice rose above. His eyes pulsed with pain and confusion, the agony climbing higher and higher. He dug his wrists into them, hoping to rid of it, but it only aggravated his vision. Great, he couldn't see a thing now. Flames licked his naked skin. Why did he feel them?

He was supposed to be the ninja of fire, for goodness sake!

"Go to sleep, _tankina hito_,"

Why did he hate him so much, yet want to keep him alive? Kai wasn't sure at all.

He wasn't gonna be sure of anything for a while.

* * *

_~Zane~_

Of course, Jay was the first to attack. He tackled the person directly opposite him, which so happened to be Lloyd. The green ninja nearly fell over with surprise, but he thrust his palm forward just in time to block Jay's electrified punch. I looked up to lock eyes with Naoko for a split second before she swiftly glided towards me and tried to grab ahold of my wrists. I narrowly escaped and hurled ice at her feet, hoping it would slow her down.

I was critically out of my element in this volcano. The bad vibes given off by nearly everyone, nor the fact that they had all turned, did not help either. The ice warmed to water in 2.7 seconds, and Naoko charged at me again. Her daggers glinted dangerously as she brandished them. I ducked and swept my leg across the ground, tripping her so I could have a moment to gather myself. It was not that taking in all the earlier information was too much; it was just rather shocking.

**_Power level: 60%._**

This evil presence I had been feeling a while back was actually Kai's brother, his twin brother—who was dead and about to kill us.

It all made sense in a way, but honestly, who would have known?

She flipped up and kicked me in the jaw, her dress flying carelessly around her legs. My feet remained on the ground, though, and I flung a beam of ice at her arms.

This was not good. We could not keep fighting like this. We were wasting time. Every second we spent dealing with them, the worse they became, more vicious, more uncontrollable, more of their souls sucked out of their bodies, and this would lead to even more time spent fighting them off, and so on...

I backed straight up into Cole, who dodged a furious punch from Nya. Her fist came flying towards me instead and I ducked hastily. Nya's fist plunged straight into the middle of Naoko's face instead, and there was some sort of tiny crash from bone crushing bone. I heard Kai make a choked, painful sound. Naoko stumbled backward, red trickling from her nostrils and running down all over her mask. She hastily wiped the blood with her forearm, smearing it all over her silky silver gloves. Her expression did not falter.

**_Power level: 49%._**

I seized the opportunity to tackle her and I quickly had her against the ground. Her breath amplified by the gas mask, she thrashed wildly, though if you'd only been looking at her face, you would have thought she was simply lying there, blood pouring from her broken nose. It was certainly comical, and I was sure Jay would have laughed. If he was still on our side.

_Zane, he's not dead...don't act like he is..._

I froze for a moment. That was Kai who'd just spoken, in the same pushed tone he'd had just now. Or was I imagining things? Was the heat finally getting to me? Surely he couldn't have...

He did not speak any more. Distracted, Naoko nearly managed to throw me off. I grabbed her face and stared down at her with as much intensity as I could muster. Her eyes had dark circles hung underneath them, darker than the grey that had stained her skin. She returned the glare seemingly without a hint of chagrin, though I could feel her arms shaking under me. Blood continued to trickle down her cheeks, drawing thin, red lines across her silver cheeks.

"Please go away." said Naoko quietly. "There is no need to fight us."

I recognised the emotionless tone as my own. "There is every need," I replied with a shaky breath.

_**Power level: 40%.**_

She laughed humorlessly. "You do not want him...no point fighting for something that would be worthless to—"

Almost automatically, I swung my fist into her cheek, soaking my gloves with blood. She shot me a glazed look, and I returned with a glare. A nindroid like myself had more emotion than somebody with the after-effects of Blair. We wanted Kai back, even if he continued to act impulsively, even if he led us into trouble. Kai was a friend, a brother, and for some reason I knew there was none other like him. Not even his twin, Blair, could ever be as rash or match his personality exactly.

Even if the others did not want him back, I would rescue him. Though the former is unlikely.

"My apologies, Naoko. Why do you fight us?"

Naoko's silver eyes held no regret or anger. "Master Blair commands it." she answered. "And we will fight to the death for him."

Though artificial, my heart pained to hear these words coming from her. I had to end this, we had to end this now. It could not drag on any longer than it was already. I sensed that among the fear and pain, something horrible was bound to happen if we let this go on.

Eliminate the fire within the flames.

**_Power level: 30%._**

Unceremoniously, I formed a small bridge of ice over Naoko's stomach and jumped up off her, securing her legs and arms as well. This was not going to hold off for very long, seeing as how warm the permafrost felt. My body was weak enough as it was. I rounded the chaos around us—Lloyd struggling to keep Jay from ripping his neck off, and Cole warding off Nya. I did my best to act quickly, but Blair had already noticed me coming.

He clenched his fist and I saw Kai's breath catch in his throat, his hands grabbing at nothing. Anger burst through my wires and I lunged at Blair. "Do _not_ touch him!"

I drove my shuriken into his shoulder. He hissed at me and scrambled away, and Kai gagged. I sped over to him and dropped to my knees, eyes widening at the close-up of his wounds. He did look rather bedraggled and his eyes didn't focus. I touched his hand. It was very cold.

He forced my fingers off his skin and rubbed his eyes with a groan, not looking at me. What had he been through? We would not know until we got home and Kai had recovered. I didn't wish to see my family get hurt any longer.

Just as I rose to my feet, pain erupted from the back of my head and I found myself facedown on the ground. Dizzy, I looked through my blurred vision.

**_Power level depleting at alarming rate: 20%. Now 17%. Now 12%. Now 6%. Now 3%._**

Naoko wasn't smiling at me, and neither was Kai as familiar darkness washed over me again.


	22. Leaders Get What They Deserve

**And again, this is so short. AHHH. Well, anyway, enjoy. I kind of teared. c_c thanks for the reviews guys. I love you all. Here are Oreos and milk. c:**

_~Cole~_

Stop turning.

I stared into her silvery orbs. Her irises were lit with an eerie, cold flame. I took a deep, slow breath, eyes fixed on her face. Not again. I didn't want to fight another of my friends. I...I couldn't.

Okay, so this might sound really stupid. I felt like absolute crap right then. _I am Cole Brookstone. I might have drove my best friend into insanity. I might have kneed another in the unmentionables. I might have killed whatever bonds I'd had with practically anyone. I might as well be the damned devil._ Looking back on everything's that had happened so far...things didn't look good. I'll be honest. I can't believe it's all my fault.

Nya blinked at me. Her chest thumped. She was afraid, but why?

My own heart ricocheted against my sweaty chest. "We don't have to fight, you know," I said, my voice weak but angry. "We won't."

"You do not command me," she answered simply, voice unwavering under the gas mask. A shaking body pushed into my back as her fist flew towards my face, and I swerved my body to avoid the hit. There was an awful cracking sound, and for a second I'd thought Zane had been hit. A flash of dark crimson crossed my line of sight. I jerked away from a kick. She grabbed me and jammed her knuckles into my jaw. Metal coated my tastebuds as I quickly got to my feet, now a little further away from her. She was smirking now, I saw, rubbing her fist with a sense of vindication.

Well shit. I brushed away the urge to box her. I'm not hurting anyone else. Except maybe Blair. He could do with a roundhouse kick to the face. I dodged Nya's grey hands. But what if Kai stopped me? Nya was already...well, almost gone, even if she couldn't be cured from whatever grey shit had poisoned her, he would still have—

I felt my rib get smashed in and the breath was knocked out of my lungs. What was I saying? Blair wanted to kill him. I pulled my hair away from my face and evaded a knee. Kai wouldn't want a brother who wanted him dead. He probably wouldn't want me either. After all I did to him, he might not even care about me any more. Of course, I knew it was gonna be the worst. I couldn't be the leader any more if he had no more respect for me...believe me, it's impossible to lead unless you're cool with your team.

I ducked painfully. The rock was hot under my palms. There were weird noises above us, like choking and yelling and all kinds of stuff. My ribcage seared with every breath. I didn't want to fight—I mean dodge—any more. I just wanted it to end. I wanted to grab my family and get the hell out. This was sickening. I was such a little shit for wanting to bounce, but I didn't think I could take any more of this. A leader doesn't fight his teammates, even if they deserve it. And I'm not saying they do, not even Kai. A leader helps his team. A leader builds up, not breaks down. A leader...a leader isn't me.

There was a piercing scream. A thumping noise. My head snapped in its direction before unconsciously tilting down to look at myself. My hands were balled into wet and sticky fists. My ribs pulsated with white-hot pain as my heart threw itself against them repeatedly. Pennies rolled on my tongue. My eyes widened.

Nya was sprawled on the lava rock. Bruises lined her arms. Her eyes were squeezed shut, hands clutching her hair, _just like her brother..._

Oh no. Oh no, no no.

I ran towards her and slid to my knees, pulling her head up in a forced attempt to look at it, as if it would help. Blood came off onto my fingertips. I caught a glimpse of the burnt red ground under her head—cracked and slightly raised. And bloody.

Not again, not again.

I cursed underneath my breath. What could I do to stop the bleeding? I didn't have any loose articles of clothing, and my ninja suit was too thin, and—damn it.

Frustration boiled in my veins, and I wasn't sure why, but my eyes burned with hot salty water. "Stop torturing me like this," I whispered, pulling off the belt of my ninja suit and tying it round Nya's head as best as I could. Her eyelids had fallen over her silver eyes, leaving slits of white. I set her down, stood up, and stormed forward. I saw Zane and Kai and Blair and Naoko. Kai half lay, half sat where he'd remained for the past I-don't-know minutes, rubbing his eyes ferociously, with a desperation I now recognised. Zane wasn't moving. Naoko was looking down mutely. Blair was yanking a shuriken out of his shoulder. I wanted to scream.

I knelt beside Kai first. His lips moved soundlessly. The crossed markings on his arm, his face and his legs glowed silently, a constant reminder of impending doom. Don't ask me how I knew that. I had no clue either. My fingers closed around his wrists and I pulled his hands away from his face firmly. The chains connecting them clanked clumsily. His mismatched eyes turned to me and he looked like he was gonna scream bloody murder at me. Then his lips met, and it was the first time in a long time that I had actually stared at him and he'd stared back.

"What...do you want," he breathed weakly, wincing every second like each living moment was causing him pain. I felt my heart crumple. My eyes burned again.

"I want—," I said, but I couldn't finish my sentence.

"You...always do," Kai's stare was resentful, half dead, but resentful nonetheless. "Always...wanting...something more..."

I gripped his hands tighter, and he growled at me. "I want to say I'm sorry," I very quickly whispered. "I'm sorry for...everything. I'm sorry for being a jerk. I'm sorry for putting you through all this. I'm sorry for being selfish. I'm sorry for existing." Why was there so much _Kai_ in these words?

Kai continued to stare at me. His pupils were hollow. He did that for a while. "Sorry isn't...going to cut it," he muttered, and shook his hands out of mine.

I know.

I was getting what I deserved.

And it was okay because Kai wasn't the leader, I was.

Maybe.

Tears blurred my vision as I stood up again and glanced around. Kai didn't watch me. Naoko didn't. Blair was wrapping bandages around his arm, I could see. He was muttering away to himself. That dead, dangerous psycho.

"Cole," I turned to see Lloyd, looking distressed, blond hair tousled and a long gash running down the side of his face. He pointed shakily to a grey figure in the corner, which was hunched over nothing, shaking just as badly as Lloyd's hand. I simply shook my head, put my hand on his shoulder and pulled him to face the direction I did: Kai's twin, now standing beside Naoko, who didn't have blood dripping down her chin anymore.

"You ready?" I whispered.

"No," whispered Lloyd, "but I guess it doesn't matter now, does it?"

"I guess it doesn't,"

Our voices were so light, I struggled to hear both of us. You'd think we were getting ready to play SSBB or something. This was no video game, though. I think you'd know that by now.

We had nothing left to lose.

I took another deep, slow breath.

**Question: do you guys think I'm annoying? Like, anywhere. Be honest. c: thank you all for reading. I'm going to bed now. Stay epic guys!**


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